


High School is Hell

by Bisexual_mess_ready_for_death



Series: High School is Hell Verse [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Artist!Catra, Brightmoon is still called Brightmoon, Catra in a suit, Catra is a bit of an emo, Cheerleader!Perfuma, Cheerleader!Scorpia, Drama nerd!Bow, Drama nerd!Glimmer, Drama nerd!Sea Hawk, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Fright Zone is called Frighton, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jock!Mermista, Musical theatre referances, Mutual Pining, Nerd!Entrapta, Prom, Sea Hawks real name is Sebastian but everyone calls him Sea Hawk, Shadow Weaver is a bitch, Shadow Weaver is called Sharon Weber, She is principal of Horde High, Slow Burn, The AU no one asked for, Updated weekly, because Shadow Weaver sucks, but angst is sometimes necessary for a story, closet theatre nerd!Catra, i absolutely love these characters and I want them to be happy, i reference a lot of shit, im doing my best okay, jock!Adora, the homophobia is in a flashback
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2019-11-06 16:26:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 35,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17943182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bisexual_mess_ready_for_death/pseuds/Bisexual_mess_ready_for_death
Summary: Catra is stuck at high school with her shitty legal guardian watching her every move. When custody of her gets transferred, she moves to Brightmoon, the place where her former best friend lives. How hell will she not fight Adora.Adora left Frighton ages ago, but she still feels bad about ditching Catra. Still, Adora was not ever expecting Catra to show up at Brightmoon High.





	1. Hold Your Breath and Count the Days

**Author's Note:**

> Yes the title is a Be More Chill reference. Also, be nice since this is my first fic. I hope to have updates every week. The POV is alternating between Adora and Catra.
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @Bisexual_mess_ready_for_death

Catra wasn’t having a good day. It was the last period of the day, and she was already suffering. First, her legal guardian, Sharon Weber, or Shadow Weaver, as Catra liked to call her, had told her how worthless she was. It’s not like Catra wasn’t used be called worthless, but after waking up late and rushing to get ready, it’s not great. Then she didn’t even have time to stop at Fright Zone Cafe and get coffee. Then during 3rd period, she spilled dark purple paint on her black leggings, so she had to take off her red and black flannel and tie it around her waist. Just wearing a dark red tank top that exposed her scars on her upper arms was not exactly great. Then Scorpia texted her that she and Entrapta wouldn’t be at lunch and wouldn’t see her until 7th period. So Catra spent lunch outside drawing trees. 6th period was usually hell anyway. So now she was headed to 7th period and was just done in general. 

Her English class wasn’t the worst. The teacher, Ms. Octavia, didn’t really care about teaching, so her friends usually just talked to her. Ms. Octavia kept the desks in groups of 3, so Catra was able to actually sit with her friends. She sat down and plopped her bag on the floor. Scorpia opened her mouth, about to say something, when the intercom buzzed.

“Would Catra Weber please report to Ms. Weber’s office?” It clicked off and Catra groaned. Being called ‘Catra Weber’ still sent a chill down her spine. Still, if Shadow  
Weaver was calling her to her office, something was wrong. 

“Hello Catra.” Shadow Weaver snapped as soon as Catra closed the door to her office. 

“Sharon.” She replied. Catra never called Shadow Weaver ‘Ms. Weber’. That would make it seem like she had respect for Shadow Weaver. 

“I’ve transferred custody of you. Go home and retrieve your things. Your new guardians will retrieve you. I want you gone before I get home.” Shadow Weaver turned her attention back to her computer and Catra left. 

The walk back to Shadow Weaver’s house wasn’t great. And shoving what little she had in boxes sucked. Having four boxes full of clothes, and two boxes of her personal things, and a small box full of art supplies, she lugged them all downstairs and waited for a call. Suddenly, a surprisingly familiar car turned up. Scorpia’s minivan, in all its glory, was pulling into the driveway. Scorpia got out of the car and Catra smiled. 

“Catra!” Scorpia yelled as she opened her car door. Catra’s best friend was like an excitable golden retriever. She ran up as Catra opened the front door to her former house. Scorpia practically tackled her in a hug. 

“Guess what! My mom just got custody of you and she got transferred to Brightmoon. Entrapta’s dad also just moved back to Brightmoon!” Scorpia grinned and ran to go grab some boxes. She was freakishly strong, so she could handle three of the boxes. The girls only needed two trips to load all of Catra’s boxes into the minivan. Scorpia kept smiling the throughout the whole trip. Catra made a point to hook up her phone to Scorpia’s radio and blast P!ATD, just to relax. The trip over to Brightmoon took an hour, so Catra asked Scorpia if they could get drive in food. One stop at In and Out later, the girls had enough food to fill them until they got to Brightmoon. 

Scorpia’s house in Brightmoon was a large brick house. It had two floors and a deck in the back. Scorpia said her parents told her that both of them got their own rooms. The girls brought the boxes up to a room on the second floor. The room had a queen sized bed, a desk, a bookshelf, a closet, and its own ensuite. Catra had never been given the option to have such a large room before. She decided to try to unpack all her clothes as fast as possible. The closet had its own little rack for shoes, so Catra placed the three pairs of shoes that she owned on it. Then she proceeded to put the rest of her clothes in the closet. Deciding she should probably head to bed, Catra dug out her charger, plugged her phone in, and collapsed in her new bed.

_________________________________________

Adora was still not entirely used to waking up in her bedroom in Brightmoon. When she lived in Frighton, or The Fright Zone, as most people called it, she had shared a small room with Catra. Now Adora lived in a huge house and got her own room. The bed was much more comfortable than her old one, and now Adora had a mom who actually cared. Not that you could have called Ms. Weber a mom. Adora didn’t ever consider Ms. Weber her mom. But she was started to consider Angella Briteo her mom. Adora pulled her covers off and stretched a bit. She did her usual splits. The cheerleaders were always complaining that Adora should join their team, but she would rather play basketball. 

Adora grabbed a pair of light blue jeans and her dark green tee shirt. She then proceeded to pull those on and grabbed her varsity jacket. The jacket was dark blue with purple sleeves and had a giant purple B on one of the sides. Her basketball number was written in small cursive writing on the sleeves. She pulled that on and grabbed her red converse. Then Adora brushed her long, blonde hair and pulled it into a ponytail. Then she grabbed her phone and ran down into the kitchen. 

Glimmer was sitting on the counter drinking a cup of iced coffee from Salineas Cups. She must have made a coffee run earlier. Glimmer was wearing a light purple dress with a denim jacket that had all kinds of pins on it. Her pastel purple hair had been freshly dyed, so her natural brown roots weren’t showing. Adora didn’t understand why Glimmer found it necessary to dye hair, but that might have just been because she grew up in Frighton. Adora noticed a second cup of iced coffee sitting right next to Glimmer.

“Yes, I got you coffee.” Glimmer smiled and handed the cup to Adora, who decided to join her on the counter.  
“Nice of you.” Adora replied as she put the straw to her mouth. Glimmer even got Adora’s prefered flavoring.

“I saw Mermista ‘cause she was waiting for her own coffee today.”

“I don’t understand why she doesn’t just make it.”

“Aesthetic. But do you want to hear my story?” Glimmer asked.

“Always.”

“So Mermista was saying how she heard a rumor that Sea Hawk was gonna ask her to prom, but she just seemed annoyed her wasn’t gonna ask her out before then.” Glimmer elaborated.

“I thought Mermista was dating Lonnie, from Frighton.” Adora was confused. Lonnie had been one of her friends back in Frighton, and Mermista knew that. Adora also knew Mermista would never cheat on anyone.

“No, they had an amicable break up in June.” She told Adora. Normally Bow kept Adora updated on this kind of stuff, but he wasn’t around right now, since he had gone on a trip to Europe with his dads.  
“Girls? I thought you would have left by now.” Glimmer’s mother, Angella, walked into the kitchen. Her peach colored hair was curled around her shoulders and she wore a light blue blouse with a black pencil skirt. 

“Sorry Mom. We’re on our way out now.” Glimmer hopped off the counter and landed on the ground with a thud. She then proceeded to grab her keys and backpack before heading out the door. Adora tugged her bag on her shoulder and ran out after Glimmer.

Getting to homeroom on time meant Adora would have to sprint through the halls. Brightmoon High wasn’t exactly forgiving about being tardy, and no doubt Mr. Brunner would be upset if she wasn't on time. Adora nearly missed the bell as she ran into the classroom and dropped her bag on her desk.

“Are you okay?” Perfuma whispered across the desks.

“Fine.” Adora murmured. Luckily, Mr. Brunner hadn’t said anything about Adora running into the class. She caught whispers about some transfer students from Horde High coming here soon. Adora had no clue what to think about that. The mention of Horde high had her mind wandering back to rough scars and heterochromatic eyes. A sketchbook filled with characters from some world Adora would never know. Black boots and nights spent whispering under the covers, hoping Shadow Weaver wouldn’t walk in.  
“Adora!” Adora was shaken out of her daze by Glimmer yelling her name and the ringing of the end of homeroom. She shouldered her bag and moved into the hallway, following Glimmer to their math class.

Math was definitely not Adora’s favorite class. She tended to tune out the lessons and got stuck with Glimmer poking her to tune back in. The teacher wasn’t very good at explaining anything. Mr. Binns tended to drone on about Math and would sometimes go off on tangents about something unrelated and boring. He also frequently gave tests no one thought they were ready for. Phones weren’t allowed to even stay in your bag with Binns. He had a holder for phones, right next to his desk. And if you didn’t put your phone in, you had a zero for the day. Adora had been good at math, so she thought Binns would be okay, even after hearing the horror stories from Bow. But nope. That was definitely not how it was. Even though Adora knew what she was doing, Binns always found a way to get her in trouble because she didn’t pay attention in his class. 

When she walked in on that day, Adora moved quietly to her desk after slipping her phone into the holder. Hopefully Binns wouldn’t notice if she did some of her other classwork in here. As Binns droned on about some boring concept, the students around Adora were whispering yet again. They talked of the transfer students, and what they hoped they would be like. No one knew a single concrete thing about them, only that two of them had never lived in Brightmoon before.

“Adora,” One boy whispered across the desks.

“What?” She wasn’t exactly in a mood to be talking about Frighton.

“Do you know anyone from The Fright Zone who might transfer?” He asked.

“Nope. Everyone at Horde High seemed like they were never gonna leave.” She replied frustratedly. Being reminded of Horde High wasn’t exactly fun for her. Her close friends knew why. Although Adora often reminisced on her time with Catra, she would never go back.

The bell rung once again, and Adora rushed to class. All day long, all she heard was about the transfer students. By the time she got to lunch, Adora was so sick of hearing about the transfer students, she almost left her table when she heard Perfuma mention them. All Perfuma had wanted to know was whether or not they thought people would accept the transfers. Adora really didn’t know. She had an easy time getting here, but that might have been because Glimmer threatened to physically harm people who made fun of her. Mermista was flirting with Sea Hawk while they ate, although her flirting basically consisted of looking mildly interested while Sea Hawk talked. Perfuma was telling everyone about how cheerleading was going. Adora listen as Glimmer began telling everyone about how the Drama Teacher hadn’t even posted audition days yet. All Adora wanted to do was get to basketball practice and start working on the team. Suddenly, the bell for the end of lunch rang and everyone went their separate ways to class.


	2. But Not Because We're Gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayeeeeee It's Chapter 2

Adora felt the rest of the day pass by in a blur. By the end of school, she felt like hardly anytime had passed between the end of lunch and the final bell. She dashed out of the classroom and ran all the way to the girls locker room. The basketball team policy was to wear whatever type of athletic workout gear they wanted. Since there was no uniform, Adora always tended to wear a bright red tank top with black running shorts and the pair of adidas that Angella had bought her. On the basketball team, Adora always felt like she fit in. The other girls trusted to her and never treated her any differently since she was from Frighton. 

Running out to the gym, she immediately started the teams usual warmup and did laps around the gym. Then she stretched out her legs and grabbed one of the basketballs. Her team captain lead the girls through multiple different plays. Adora was working so hard, she forgot all about the Horde Transfer students. When she was finished with practice, Adora pulled on an old hoodie. She didn’t exactly remember where she had got it, but she had it since before moving to Brightmoon. The hoodie was dark red and had a faded name written on the inside of the tag. Adora zipped up her sweatshirt and grabbed her bag, waiting for Glimmer to come pick her up. 

Glimmer’s car was a shiny silver BMW. Her mom bought it for her when she turned 16 over the summer. The car was well taken care of and Glimmer loved driving it everywhere. Adora waited on the sidewalk for the sight of Glimmer’s car. It only took 10 minutes for her to show up. 

“Sorry! I was doing homework and I lost track of time and then Mom said that I had to go get you and I rushed out the door.” Glimmer didn’t really seem to breath as she rushed all of that out at once. 

“It’s fine.” Adora told her as she slipped into the car. She hadn’t really been worried since she knew Glimmer was extremely reliable. If the pair had stayed any longer, they might’ve seen a battered, old minivan pull up.   
_________________________________________  
Brightmoon High looked different than Catra had been expecting. She thought it would be fancier than your average high school, but it wasn’t. It looked just like a normal high school. Scorpia turned the car off and the two went into the front office. A woman with dark hair and brown eyes wore a navy blue pantsuit. 

“Dr. Salineas?” Scorpia asked. 

“May I help you?” She asked. 

“We wanted to get our schedule for school. See, we just transferred here and…” Scorpia started. 

“Give me a minute to call my secretary to get your schedules. Wait here.” Dr. Salineas walked off, the clicking of her heels getting quieter and quieter. Scorpia turned to Catra. 

“Aren’t you excited? It’s so much better than Horde High! There are also way more activities and I just-“ she kept talking about how much better Brightmoon would be for them, but Catra tuned out. Her mind went to bright blue eyes and nights spent under covers. A kiss she barely remembered and knew the recipient didn’t. The possibility of seeing Adora again made her feel ridiculously happy, but at the same time she was annoyed. Just because Adora used to be her best friend doesn’t need to make her happy. She probably wouldn’t even run into her. It wasn’t like they were guaranteed to have any classes together, or even the same lunch for that matter. 

It was a blur waiting to get the schedules. After they got the schedules, the girls got back in Scorpia’s car and drove to some fast food place. They got chicken nuggets, fries, and some sodas before heading back to the house. Despite skipping school that day in an attempt to conquer the mountain of tightly packed boxes, the girls were nowhere near finished yet. Well, most of the house wasn't. Catra didn’t have much, so unpacking her seven boxes did not take long. She decided to sit at her desk and pulled out her worn, red sketchbook. Flipping open to the latest page, she continued her drawing. It was a warrior with pretty long hair and bright blue eyes. The warrior wore a romper with weird ruffles on the sides of her hips. There was a giant sword the warrior held in her right hand. The girl had a tiara placed on her head, but she didn’t look dainty. The warrior had muscles. The warrior kind of reminded her of-SHIT! She had drawn Adora. It wasn’t like her countless practice sketches weren’t enough. She had drawn Adora for the protagonist of her little world. NO! It wasn’t Adora. She had drawn- She ra. That’s what she would call the warrior. She ra. Not Adora. Catra ignored any other thoughts on the concept and started doing the line art for She ra. Then at the top, in bold lettering, she wrote She ra, Princess of Power. Now it definitely wasn’t Adora. She finished doing the line art and took a picture for her tumblr. 

@DisasterLesbianDraws  
Finally finished the goddamn protagonist for my upcoming comic

She quickly shut her phone off and plugged it in. Why the hell was she even willing to try to pretend she hadn’t drawn Adora. She opened her sketchbook to the inner cover. There, was a cartoon-sequel drawing. When Catra has first gotten the book at age 10. She had immediately scribbled a drawing of Adora in red pencil. Then Adora had tried to copy the style for a drawing of Catra in blue pencil. When Adora had left her, Catra had frantically scribbled over her drawing of Adora while in tears. Still, Catra felt regret for scribbling over it and ran her finger over Adora’s drawing of her. She could almost imagine Adora drawing it. Her best friend. “Former Best Friend” Catra reminded herself. They weren’t best friends anymore. Not since Adora left her. Catra held back tears and curled into a ball. Maybe someday she wouldn’t miss Adora. Today was not that day.   
_________________________________________  
Adora woke up to the sound of rain. Of course it was. The one day she was supposed to have an outdoor class, it started raining. Adora decided to pull on a pair of red rain boots with white racer stripes on the sides. She then grabbed a pair of light wash overalls and a navy blue shirt to go underneath. Her hair was quickly pulled in a ponytail and she grabbed her phone, running down the stairs. Glimmer was waiting for her, as usual, but this time she was texting someone. 

“Who are you talking to?” Adora asked. 

“Bow.” Glimmer finished up her last message and looked up. She wore a dark purple romper today, with the same pair of combat boots she wore yesterday. 

“How is he?”

“Still in Europe. He said next week they’re coming back in though.” Glimmer frowned. Adora knew that Bow was Glimmer childhood best friend and she missed him a lot. He had been in Europe for two months. Adora could sympathize. 

“Are you ready?” She asked. Glimmer nodded, handed Adora coffee, and the two begun their trip to school. 

Adora went to homeroom without anything eventful happening. She didn’t even have to run to get there on time. She sat at her desk, tapping her pencil on her it as she waited for the bell to ring. Not that that wasn’t normal. Adora always felt the need to be doing something. She spaced out a bit and jerked back in when the first period bell rung. Adora grabbed her bag and ran through the halls to get to her desk. She sat and placed her phone in the holder. Then a familiar girl with heterochromatic eyes walked in. 

Catra wore the red headband with cat ears that Adora had given her so many years ago. Adora’s ten year old self thought it had made sense. Catra has cat in her name. So she should have cat ears. In hindsight, Adora didn’t know what she had been thinking. It was a dumb gift, but Catra had liked it anyway. Catra also wore a dark red tank top with black jean shorts and a black pair of rain boots. Her brown hair was just as messy as Adora remembered and the different colored eyes distracted Adora. A lot. Definitely more than Adora was willing to admit. She heard whispers as soon as Catra walked in. The few she caught sound like “Horde Transfer” and “Scars”. The scars Adora has traced her fingers over when Catra has first gotten them. She remembered holding a six year old Catra, who had been crying at the time. Not like Catra would cry now. For some reason, she had gotten idea that crying was weakness. Adora knew that crying was a natural part of life, but Catra seemed to have had in drilled into her that it wasn’t. But six year old Catra was okay with crying. And she was okay with six year old Adora hugging her. And Adora has told Catra her scars would matter when they got older. Maybe they would even fade. The scars didn’t, if Catra’s arms were anything to go by. And Catra was coming over now. Oh god. 

“Hey Adora.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, the chapter title is a Dear Evan Hansen reference because that's basically Adora's thoughts on Catra this chapter
> 
> Ask me anything on tumblr @bisexual_mess_ready_for_death
> 
> Again, please comment because it gives me motivation to keep going


	3. Dear Oven Hansen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let’s goooo chapter 3. I’m trying to make this a slow burn so, we’re all gonna have to suffer through badly repressed feelings.

Catra?” Adora asked, seeming confused. Catra would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy having the surprise for once.

“Weren’t expecting me here, were you? You honestly thought I would stay with Shadow Weaver forever, huh?” She watched Adora’s face carefully, observing her to see even the slightest bit of regret. But the teacher came in, and Catra had to walk to her seat. There was a spot open in the back, which hopefully meant the teacher wouldn’t pay too much attention to her. Oh great, and now the teacher was droning about policy or some shit. And now he was talking about how this wasn’t Horde High, and how you couldn’t be a troublemaker here. God, did everyone think Horde Students were troublemakers. Adora was popular and she was from Horde High. How the fuck was Catra supposed to fly under the radar if people were pay special attention to the new students. This would not be fun.

Catra’s next two classes passed like a blur. She didn’t even notice the whispers about her. Okay, maybe she did, but it didn’t bother her. She didn’t care at all. Catra just wanted the day to be over. Then she got to Chemistry, her first class with Scorpia. She slid into the classroom and chose a desk right next to her friend. 

“Catra, aren’t you enjoying school? I’ve already met so many nice people. One girl, named Perfuma, told me about cheer tryouts. I’m thinking I might join the team. Oh wouldn’t that be so fun!” Scorpia was eternally optimistic, which Catra supposed was a good trait. Not that she was very glad for it right now. 

“Eh, I think Brightmoon isn’t all that great. I’m not really one for a preppy school.” Catra replied, as the teacher walked in. The bell to begin class rung, and silence fell over the students.

“Hey guys, my name’s Mr. Mell. Most of you already know that, but we’ve got some new students today. I’ll give the new people some time to adjust to school before I go back to our harder course things, but I thought, today I could assign lab partners. Then you and your lab partner will spend the rest of the period getting to know each other.” Mr. Mell finished. He straightened his glasses and Catra internally groaned. She might not even get the one person that she’s friends with to be her lab partner, and as an introvert, she was definitely not okay with that. And she knew she wasn’t the only one. Catra heard the grumbling of people around her.  
“Okay first up, Sebastian Ocane with Perfuma Plumeria; Glimmer Briteo with Bow Aroe; Scorpia Clahe with Mermista Salineas; Catra Weber with Adora Eternia; John Laurens with Alex-” Catra immediately tuned out after that. She had to work with Adora. Adora had ditched her to come here, and now Catra would have to partner with her in Chemistry. Adora was coming over to her desk now.

“Catra.” Adora made eye contact with Catra. Her eyes were so pretty, definitely Catra’s favorite- NO SHE DID NOT NEED TO BE THINKING ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW! She reigned her brain back in and focused. 

“Hey Adora.” She replied. Oh god, did she sound too casual? What the fuck was wrong with her! She didn’t need to impress Adora. This sucked.

“So I figured, um, maybe since we’re Chem partners, we should exchange numbers. You know, in case we have a project or something?” Adora sounded weirdly nervous. Was something up with her?

“Yeah sure.” Catra pulled out her phone and pressed the new contact button. She and Adora traded phones and put their numbers in. 

“Thanks.” Adora told her.

“This is not because I like you.” Catra grabbed her phone back and waited for the bell to ring. She was a complete and utter disaster sometimes. Really, it was a shock how she could even be considered smooth to others. The bell rung and Catra rushed to the one class she had been remotely looking forward to.

Art was a class taught by a small, feisty woman named, Natasha Spinetossa. Catra hadn’t even been in her class a full period, but within the first five minutes, she already had a basic idea of how this woman was. She had paint splatters on her cheeks, and only noticed when halfway through the class when one of the History teachers, Ella Spinetossa, came in and told her. Catra didn’t mind Mrs. Spinetossa. She would even say she liked her class. It was a nice relief after the stress of her morning. But sadly, it was only fourth period.

_________________________________________

Adora was freaking out. Catra was one of the Horde transfer students. She had not been expecting her day to be like this at all when she woke up this morning. And now, headed to the cafeteria, she realized her group couldn’t sit outside like they usually did because it was still raining. Adora walked up to where Sea Hawk was currently trying to impress Mermista with his tales of drama club.

“-and so I began crying, of course. Because what else was I supposed to do? The character was mourning all he had lost. And then the teacher said ‘Calm down Sebastian, it’s only Seussical’.” Sea Hawk did always have a tendency to over exaggerate.

“Mmmmm.” Mermista nodded, actually paying attention. She must have really liked Sea Hawk, because with most others telling a story, she didn’t even give a reaction. Adora opened up her backpack and pulled out her sandwich. Glimmer walked over to the table, talking to Perfuma. The two sat down and Glimmer turned to Adora.

“Are you okay? I know getting partnered with Catra must be hard.” 

“It’s just weird. It’s like I have this image of her from last time I saw her, but she isn’t the same. And don’t get me wrong, I missed her. A lot. I just- this is hard,” Honestly, Adora hadn’t been expecting to see Catra again so soon. Or ever, to be honest. She had thought that Shadow Weaver would have had Catra until she went to school. And now that she thought about it, that was kind of shitty. She never actually considered what would happen to the girl who had been her best friend and who she had grown up with. What was wrong with her. Adora had considered herself a fairly empathetic person, but now she was second guessing that. The bell rung and Adora ran off to her fifth period class.  
_________________________________________  
Catra was doodling a from one of the games that she played. Most teachers at Horde High hadn’t really care at all if students drew during class. But at Brightmoon, teachers were likely to take whatever you were doing away from you. Her English teacher, Mrs. Epolotti, had noticed her drawing and immediately taken the sketchbook and put it in her desk, locking it with a key that was on her necklace. She sighed and stared at the clock on the wall. Still half an hour before class ended, and the teacher never even told her if she could get it back. Ugh what was this woman even saying? Something about watching a live feed of a pregnant giraffe. How the hell did this woman even get hired? Oh my god she was turning the feed on. At least the giraffe wasn’t giving birth yet. Catra stared at the wall and listened to Blink 182 while she waited for class to be over. Goddamn this woman. Time passed and the bell finally rang, giving Catra an escape from this hell of a class. But no, She needed her sketchbook back and there was no way in hell she would leave it in the care of an insane teacher. Catra was about to walk up to Mrs. Epolotti’s desk when she spotted a familiar ponytail.

Adora was walking up to the teacher and smiling. A teacher's pet. Of course! Why would that have changed in a year? And now Mrs. Epolotti was unlocking the desk and PULLING OUT CATRA’S SKETCHBOOK! What the fuck did Adora even want with it? Was she gonna ransom it? No, that’s ridiculous, Adora was was too much of a goodie two shoes to even conceive the idea of ransoming it. Catra pulled out one of her earbuds and tried to hear the conversation. 

“-so much Mrs. Epolotti! And yes, the livestream was truly educational. I’ll see you on Monday!” She made her way over to Catra’s desk and Adora’s smile wavered. 

“Catra, I um- I thought Mrs. Epolotti taking your sketchbook was unfair and-“ Catra noticed Adora stumbling over her words and cut her off. 

“Thanks.” She spoke quickly and clearly, effectively making Adora stop stammering and instead make a pink blush cover her cheeks. 

“Yeah, well…” Adora stood awkwardly. She must have had a free period next. There’s no way in hell the goody two shoes would skip. 

“This doesn’t make us friends.” Catra reminded her. 

“Right.” Adora nodded and ran off. Maybe she did have class. SHIT! Catra had class too. She could analyze the whole encounter later. Catra grabbed her bag and ran through the halls.  
_________________________________________  
Adora was late. For History. She loved History, how could she be late! Well, she knew why she was late, and she would not think about it. No no no. She ran in and slid into her desk next to Glimmer. 

“I stalled for you. You owe me an explanation of why you stalled getting to History, your favorite class.” Glimmer crossed her arms and stared at Adora. Adora squirmed in her seat. How exactly was she supposed to explain delaying in order to be able to talk to Catra. And it’s not like Catra even talked to her much. She seemed mad at Adora. Which made sense. Maybe. She wasn’t even sure anymore. Glimmer tapped her pen on Adora’s desk and cleared her throat. 

“I’m still waiting on an explanation. Are you really gonna keep something from your best friend?”

“Ugh fine. I- I waited to talk to Catra.” Adora rushed her words, hoping Glimmer wouldn’t hear them. 

“Adora-” 

“I KNOW! It’s not- I don’t even really know why here opinion matters to me so much, it just does. Catra, I don’t know, she just… won’t let me explain leaving. At least, I think that’s why she’s mad at me.” 

“Maybe give her time? You did leave her at the mercy of your former foster mom and from what you told me about her-” Adora interrupted Glimmer. 

“Sharon wasn’t that bad. She was nice to me.” 

“Adora, she gave Catra scars and hospitalized you by accidentally hitting you with a metal pot. She was not a nice woman. You look at your time there optimistically which is not good.” Glimmer forced Adora to make eye contact with her while the history teacher collected homework. 

“I still don’t think she hit me with a pot. I would remember that.” Adora insisted. Glimmer groaned and popped her earbud in. Adora could hear the beginning of Candy Store. Right, the school show was Heathers. How could she forget! Glimmer was going out for Veronica, and when Glimmer has told Bow what the show was, he yelled praise about the movie for half an hour. And then Glimmer had made Adora watch Heathers with her to review for auditions. The teacher took their homework and let everyone use their phones for the rest of the time. 

“It’s a Friday and y’all are probably tired. Don’t worry about having to learn right now.” She said.

So Adora pulled out her phone and began scrolling through tumblr, hoping no one would notice the blush on her face when she saw a text from Catra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... my sister thought Dear Evan Hansen was called Dear Oven Hansen. Anyways I really hope you enjoyed this chapter...
> 
> If you’ve got any questions or want updates on when I’ll be posting, check on my tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death
> 
> Please comment because it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	4. The Smartphone Hour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is a Be More Chill reference
> 
> Key:  
> Anything bold is sent from the person at the top, and anything in italics is from the person who’s POV it it

Catra was already regretting texting Adora. She had literally only gotten the number a few hours earlier, and yet she could resist

Ex Best Friend  
_(1:15) Hey Adora, just wanted to make sure this number works_  
**(1:17) Yeah it works :)**  
**(1:17) I was wondering if maybe you would want to hangout at Salineas Cups on Saturday?**  
**(1:18) Like, as friends**  
**(1:18) My friends are gonna be there, so you could join us?**  
**(1:18) With your friends too obviously**  
_(1:23) I’ll have to ask my friends_  
_(1:25) Don’t take that as a yes_  
**[Read 1:25]**

FUCK why had she agreed to that! Well technically she hadn’t agreed to anything, but still! Catra knew she definitely was gonna end up going. At least she had a study during seventh period so she could text Scorpia and Entrapta to try and figure out what the fuck was happening.

Super Pal Trio  
_(1:26) So… what are we doing on Saturday_  
**Scorp: (1:28) ARE YOU PLANNING SOMETHING?**  
**Scorp: (1:28) HAS MY ENTHUSIASM PAID OFF?**  
**Trappy: (1:29) Obviously she saw Adora**  
**Scorp: (1:29) But that would mean that Adora asked Catra to hangout**  
_(1:30) Can you not…_  
_(1:30) But yeah, she asked me, and by extension, you guys, if we would hangout with her and her friends on Saturday_  
_(1:30) At some place called Salineas Cups_  
_(1:32) [Screenshot]_  
**Scorp: (1:33) Awwwwww!**  
**Scorp: (1:33) Tell her we’re going**  
**Scorp: (1:33) Right Entrapta?**  
**Trappy: (1:33) I’m not aware of anything else I have to do**  
_(1:33) Wow so supportive_  
**Scorp: (1:34) You know you love us**  
_[Read 1:34]_  
_________________________________________  
Glimmer  
_(1:37) I can feel you judging me_  
**(1:38) …**  
**(1:38) No**  
**(1:39) Okay**  
**(1:39) Maybe**  
_(1:42) Glimmer!_  
**(1:42) I’m just worried**  
**(1:42) You don’t know if Catra will even respond**  
**(1:43) You don’t even know how she’ll react**  
_(1:45) I want to start patching things up with her_  
_(1:46) She used to be my best friend_  
**(1:46) Adora…**  
_(1:47) No_  
**(1:47) IM BRINGING THIS TO THE GROUPCHAT**

Best Friends Squad  
**Glimmer: (1:47) [3 Screenshots]**  
**Glimmer: (1:47) Any thoughts?**  
**Bow: (1:49) ADORA**  
**Bow: (1:49) IVE BEEN GONE FOR 3 WEEKS**  
**Bow: (1:49) AND THIS HAPPENS**  
_(1:50) I just want to patch things up with her_  
**Bow: (1:50) But does she want to patch things up with you**  
**Glimmer: (1:51) I would like to say this is bad idea**  
**Glimmer: (1:51) Never get Adora started on Catra**  
_(1:52) Glimmer, I’ve got screenshots to weaponize_  
**Glimmer: (1:52) I’m staying out of this**  
**Bow: (1:53) What the-**  
**Bow: (1:53) What do you have on her**  
_(1:56) If I showed you it would be fair anymore_  
**Bow: (1:56) True**  
_[Read 2:01]_

Adora had decided to shut her phone off so she didn’t have to deal with Bow telling her things she already knew. At least, not until later, since Bow was gonna be FaceTiming them so they could do a Marvel Marathon. Adora packed her stuff up and put in her headphones. Pop music blasted in her ears while she tried to finish her homework since her music teacher wasn’t there today. The bell rang, and since Adora had gotten a text earlier from her basketball captain that canceled practice, she would get to go home with Glimmer immediately.

Speaking of Glimmer, she was currently practicing her 16 bars of audition music. She was going to audition with Revenge Party from Mean Girls. Because apparently the girl who played Veronica in Heathers the musical sang that song. Sometimes she asked Adora for help. Not today though. Glimmer was practicing with Mermista singing backup. Mermista was a much better singer than most people expected, since the Swim Team Captain had a tendency to speak in pure sarcasm. Suddenly, the bell rang and Adora ran over to where Glimmer was waiting.

“You ready to go get some movie snacks?” Glimmer asked her.

“Oh yeah!” Adora shouldered her bag and the two of them started walking to the car. Then Adora saw an enthusiastic girl waving at her. And of course, right next to the girl was Catra.  
_________________________________________  
“Scorpia no!” Hissed Catra. Her golden retriever of a best friend was waving at Adora and her smaller friend.

“Catra! And…?” Adora smiled and walked over.

“I’m Scorpia! Catra and I were just looking for you to tell you the two of us and our other best friend are gonna join you for coffee!” Scorpia was grinning and Catra glared at her.

“Yeah, um, we’re gonna add you guys to the group chat.” The smaller girl said. She was wearing a dark purple jumper, light purple combat boots, light blue fingerless leather gloves, and a denim jacket with a lot of different pins. Somehow her makeup seemed to be flawless.

“Oh, this is Glimmer by the way.” Adora gestured to her friend.

“Cool. We should probably let you guys go back to whatever you were doing.” Catra grabbed Scorpia by the wrist and dragged her to the car.

“What the hell was that!” Catra asked once they were safely in the minivan.

“You were gonna have to tell her about going eventually. I sped things up with your crush” Scorpia uttered the word crush in a teasing way.

Unfortunately, the car was moving so all Catra could do was glare at her. Suddenly, Catra felt her phone vibrate.

Coffee Bois  
**[Added]**  
_[added Scorp and Trappy]_  
**Ex Best Friend: (2:21) We all should probably say our names so our new people can add us to contacts**  
**Ex Best Friend: (2:21) I’m Adora**  
**1620811375: (2:22) I’m Bow**  
**13227324295: (2:22) I’m the fabulous Sea Hawk**  
**17326376243: (2:23) His real name is Sebastian**  
**17326376243: (2:23) I’m Mermista by the way**  
_(2:24) Catra_  
**Trappy: (2:26) I already know most of you**  
**Bow Boi: (2:27) ENTRAPTA**  
**Mermaid: (2:27) You should have told us you were coming back to Brightmoon**  
**Trappy: (2:29) I didn’t know until a while ago**  
**Trappy: (2:29) Obviously I would have informed you all**  
**17673447301: (2:33) Obviously I’ve missed a lot**  
**17673447301: (2:33) And I’m Perfuma**  
**14546637723: (2:34) My names Glimmer**  
**Scorp: (2:37) My names Scorpio**  
**Scorp: (2:37) *Scorpia**  
**Glitter: (2:38) How often does autocorrect do that**  
**Scorp: (2:38) Way to much**

Catra walked into the house and immediately went up to her room. Or tried to. Scorpia’s mom was as much of an optimistic, happy-go-lucky person as her daughter was. When Catra got home, Scorpia’s mom caught her in a tight hug.

“How was school honey?” She asked once she had released Catra.

“It was fine Ms. Clahe.” Catra always tried to be polite to Ms. Clahe. She had been nice enough to take her in.

“Honey, you don’t need to call me Ms. Clahe. I understand if you aren’t comfortable enough to call me Mom, but you’re as much my daughter as Scorpia is. But if it’s really too much of an issue for you, just call me Claire.” Claire smiled and Catra honestly didn’t know how to feel. She had never really had a true ‘Mom’ in her life. Shadow Weaver probably would have rioted if Catra even considered calling her Mom. Claire must have noticed how she was uncomfortable, because she told Catra they were having Mexican tonight. Catra nodded quietly and slunk off to her room.  
_________________________________________  
After calling Entrapta and FaceTiming her for a little bit, Adora decided to wait in the kitchen for Glimmer to get changed. As part of marathoning movies, they had a mutual agreement to get changed into pjs for it. The pjs Adora wore today were an old, white Horde tank top with a pair of grey running shorts. Her hair was pulled into a loose braid and she wore dark blue fuzzy socks. She was waiting for the popcorn to be done and drinking a rootbeer float. Glimmer came down the stairs wearing a Be More Chill tank top and black booty shorts. Her makeup was taken off and she immediately grabbed her own rootbeer float and dragged Adora into the living room. The girls had decided to skip most individual marvel movies (except for Antman and The Wasp and Captain America: Civil War). They started with Avengers and gradually made their way through the movies.

Sometime around two in the morning, the girls finished Infinity War. They sluggishly cleaned up their mess and shut off the TV, making their way upstairs. Adora plugged in her phone, but before climbing into bed, she sent a quick text.

Coffee Bois  
_(2:17) Does 10:30 work for everyone_

Then Adora passed out in her bed.

Walking up to the sound of Alexander Hamilton blasting, Adora rolled out of bed and groaned. Her clock said it was 10:02. She was gonna be late if she didn’t hurry up. Since it was a little colder, Adora put on a pair of black leggings and a blue flannel with her red converse. She also put on the charm bracelet Glimmer had given her last Christmas. She walked down the stairs and felt her phone buzz.

Coffee Bois  
**Perfuma: (10:12) Are you guys ready for coffee?**  
**Sea Hawk: (10:12) It's our weekend ADVENTURE!**  
**Mermista: (10:14) Calm down**  
**Catra: (10:14) Is he always like this**  
**Mermista: (10:15) yeah**  
_(10:17) I’m pretty sure Glimmer and I are gonna be half asleep during it_  
**_Scorpia_ : (10:17) Did you not go to sleep last night?**  
**Glimmer: (10:18) Bold if you to assume I sleep**  
**Bow: (10:19) GLIMMER NO**  
**Scorpia: (10:25) Entrapta, Catra, and I are here**  
**Perfuma: (10:25) Go find Mermista**  
**Sea Hawk: (10:26) She's at the register**  
_(10:27) Glimmer and I are leaving now_

Adora and Glimmer made there way to the car and Glimmer plugged in her phone. Adora prepared herself to listen to musical theatre on the way, and off they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote chapter 3 and 4 within the same 10 hours while crying...
> 
> My show, which is what was happening while I was writing, went really well and I am mostly gonna put some things from that in this
> 
> If you’ve got any questions or want updates, follow me on tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death
> 
> Please comment anything because it gives me the motivation to keep writing
> 
> I always do my best to read and respond to the comments


	5. Pour Another Cup of Coffee...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah chapter 5! I was procrastinating writing this a lot, so I wrote it all the night before I posted.

Catra wore a dark red tee shirt, a black leather jacket, and ripped black jeans. Before they left, Scorpia had teased her about dressing up. She was wearing her old Horde High Sweatshirt with a pair of light wash jeans and pastel green sneakers. The two of them were talking with a pretty girl named Mermista when Adora walked in. Adora looked relatively put together in her blue flannel and leggings, while her shorter friend wore an oversized sweatshirt with leggings. They walked over to the table, Adora sliding into the seat across from Catra. 

“Is Perfuma not here yet?” Glimmer asked. 

“She said something about picking up Entrapta.” Mermista replied in a bored tone. The girl seemed to only speak in sarcasm. Catra liked her. 

“So, how do you guys like Brightmoon so far?” Adora turned the conversation towards Catra and Scorpia. Shit. Catra definitely did not feel the need to talk about what she thought of the town. Saying it wasn’t that bad would be admitting defeat, and Catra was not about to lose. What competition, she really didn’t know, but she would not lose it.

The bell on the door rung and a girl who Catra assumed was Perfuma, walked in with Entrapta. Entrapta wore a pair of leggings with a purple sweater, a pair of large goggles around her neck, and doc martins. Perfuma wore a green cardigan with a pink shirt, light wash jeans, and a white scarf. She wore a flower crown on top of her pale blonde hair. She and Entrapta seemed to have no sense of personal space as they walked side by side. Entrapta stopped in front of the table for a second before Glimmer got up and hugged her so fast it seemed like she teleported. Entrapta made a small grunt as she pulled the tiny girl off her. She then walked over to where Catra and Scorpia were sitting. 

“Pick whatever you guys want. I have to go get it since I’m technically your waiter or something.” Mermista got up and walked to the front of the table, notepad in hand. 

Catra made a decision to try and figure people out based on their drink order. Adora had order a basic ass Pumpkin Spice Latte, Perfuma got a Strawberry Açai Refresher, Sea Hawk got a Cotton Candy Frappuccino (much to the tables disgust), Entrapta ordered “whatever was closest to sticking coffee directly into her blood”. Glimmer had gotten an iced mocha and Scorpia ordered a hot chocolate. And of course, Catra ordered a coffee blacker than her soul. The drinks had not helped Catra figure out anything about the people she was sitting with, other than Entrapta was an insomniac, which she already knew. The table seemed to have a system of how these Coffee Saturday’s went. It seemed customers knew about it too, since the only people there had noise canceling headphones. Glimmer went on about… wait-

“Brightmoon has a theatre department? Like, you guys actually do shows and shit?” Catra asked. Horde High had never had anything remotely similar, which meant she would just draw and sometimes sing for Adora. Not that that mattered right now. 

“Did the Horde not have one?” Perfuma asked. 

“The Horde didn’t really do extracurriculars. Well, we had a football team, and a cheer squad,”

“Which was mostly about kicking bitches in the face ‘accidentally’ during practice,” interjected Catra

“Oh and the wrestling team but nothing else.” Scorpia explained as Mermista handed out menus to them. 

“What a travesty!” Sea Hawk seemed to be more dramatic than Catra was equipped to deal with. How the hell did anyone handle him. 

Catra looked over the menu. The most appetizing thing to her was fries. Nothing was better than fries. The table talked more as Catra studied everyone’s faces. Glimmer was mostly paying attention, but occasionally her gaze would dart to her lap. Most likely she was texting someone. Sea Hawk had a tendency to be over dramatic, which Catra thought would have made Mermista groan. Well, she did groan, but not nearly as much as she could have. Perfuma was looking at Entrapta, Entrapta was talking about some program she wanted to design, and Scorpia was looking at the menu. Adora stared at Catra. Which was weird. Adora had never stared at her before. Did she have something on her face? What the hell? Adora’s pretty blue eyes sparked with curiosity and she opened her mouth to speak. 

Thankfully the bell rung and the door swung open to Mrs. Spinetossa walking in with Dr. Spinetossa. Mermista groaned and jumped out of her seat to go help the pair of women. Catra took a sip of her coffee. Maybe this wouldn’t completely suck.   
_________________________________________  
Adora was watching Catra. She was worried about her. Catra had just showed up in Brightmoon and had a hard time showing whenever she needed help. Her different colored eyes were not helping keep Adora’s mind off her. Was it so weird that she was concerned? Glimmer would say yes, and she had no clue what Bow would say. Maybe she should ask him when he gets back. 

“Right, I’m guessing everyone wants their usual?” Mermista had her usual demeanor as she collect menus. 

“Yes, but the new girls haven’t ordered yet.” Perfuma, kind as ever, reminded Mermista how some of their members had never done this before. 

“I’ll have fries.” Catra handed Mermista the menu, giving Adora a good look at Catra’s hand. Her previously long nails had been cut short, and painted black. What an emo move. 

“Yeah, could I please try the bacon and eggs?” Scorpia seemed hard to get a good idea of. The girl seemed extremely tough before she spoke, but clearly had a softer side to her. 

“Could I have tiny muffins? And do they have leeks in them? I have recently learned the benefits from a Hatsune Miku,” Entrapta still had the same obsession with tiny food. 

Mermista went off to the kitchen to put the orders in. Catra whispered something to Scorpia, who laughed and shot a glance at Adora. What was she saying? Did Catra hate her? 

“Hey Adora, is there something on my face?” Catra smirked as she made eye contact with her. 

“No! I-uh- I wasn’t staring!” She stumbled trying to focus. Catra’s lip twitched and she put her hand over her mouth. Maybe she didn’t hate Adora after all? But then why would she hide a smile behind her hand?

“So Catra, Adora told me you two grew up together. Got any embarrassing stories?” Perfuma tried to add Catra into the conversation.

“Oh yeah! Blondie over there had a real tendency to embarrass herself when we were younger.” Catra’s smirk was firmly back in place and Adora felt mortified. Most of the things she did as a kid were embarrassing, even though some things Catra did were even more embarrassing. 

“Oh? Do tell…” Glimmer shot a look at Adora. Was this, payback? For when Adora asked Angella for embarrassing stories. Oh God, kill her now!.

“I remember this one time when Adora thought she was a warrior. She made a cardboard sword and everything. What did you call yourself? Princess of Power? Anyways, she would run around the house until Sharon got home, screaming ‘For the honor of grayskull!’ Except, she wasn’t so good at say r’s so it sounded more like she said ‘gayskull’. Man, when she lost the sword, Adora cried for weeks!” Catra had made the table start laughing. Adora was so going to get her back. 

“Catra, do you remember the time you thought you were a cat?” Adora smiled innocently in Catra’s direction as the girl looked horrified. 

“You wouldn’t-” Catra started. 

“You mentioned ‘Gayskull’. And I was only 4. When Catra thought she was a cat, she was 7. She went around wearing a belt with black paper attached to it. She said it was her tail. And she would only meow around Ms. Weber. It would drive her insane.” The table was dying of laughter as Mermista brought their food over. Catra looked like she wanted to slide into the floor. 

“Oh Adora, I’ve got more stories.” Catra smiled and Adora matched her expression. 

“So do I.” 

The group ate their food as the girls battled with mortifying tales of their childhood. The table found everyone of them hilarious, and at some point it had turned into everyone sharing embarrassing childhood stories. They all were having so much fun that no one noticed as the time flew by. 

“I’ve got to go pick Bow up from the airport.” Glimmer exclaimed once she realized the time. Before Glimmer left, Adora told her she would walk home since she needed to talk to Catra. Eventually everyone left except for Catra and Scorpia. Adora rushes up to the pair before they got in the car. 

“Catra! We should talk…” Adora tried to smile as Catra whispered a few things to the girl next to her. Then she got out of the car and crossed her arms. 

“Fine, let’s talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is a Dear Evan Hansen reference, and the second part of the quote will be the next chapter name. 
> 
> Ask me any questions on my tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death
> 
> Please comment since it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	6. ...And Watch It All Crash And Burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of this chapter was written by my editor  
> Her tumblr handle is @just-your-average-queer
> 
> Later in the chapter there will be a reference to a PJO character where I use the name of someone else on him

Adora would be lying if she said she wasn’t worried. Yes, she wanted to patch things up with Catra, and be friends again, but did Catra even want that? Adora had no clue.

 

“I wanted to talk to you… I guess about the possibility of being friends again.” Adora studied Catra’s face for any sign that she would let her guard down. Nothing. Catra was far too good at hiding her feelings, but once upon a time Adora had been able to read her. If only she still was.

 

“What! You want to be friends again? Are you kidding…” Catra’s arms stayed crossed, and she seemed unwilling to show any sort of emotion. Besides anger.

 

“I-I really think that-”

 

“No. You wanna know what I think? You feel guilty. You left and you ditched me without a second thought. And now that I’m here, I could fuck up that little perfect image you’ve got going here. And guess what! I don’t give a single fuck about trying to wreck your image. I’m away from that house! Yeah the house you left me in. Did you even care?” Catra’s eyes…

 

Had tears in them.

 

Did Adora do this?

 

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t really thinking about-” Adora started.

 

“YOU LEFT ME! You left me with Sharon and you somehow thought that would be okay? And you’re right, you weren’t thinking. You were so caught up in your own little world that you forgot about the people you left behind. You fucking forgot about me!!! And I can’t put trust in you that you won’t leave again! I’m not gonna tear down the little image you put up here. I get that you needed to leave, but I’m not in the mood to give you more trust that I need to. I’ll hear your reasoning, because that’s fair. I just won’t give you the chance to break me apart ever again!” Catra’s arms had uncrossed while she was talking and were at her sides in fists. She wasn’t crying, but her voice was full of emotion that Adora never thought she would hear again.

 

“You’re right, I didn’t think about you, but I didn’t really get a choice about leaving. When I was in the hospital, the nurses just told me I was leaving! It’s not like I had any options! And I don’t remember you ever coming to visit me. The last time I saw you was before the accident. I wasn’t thinking. And you’re the one who shut me out. You pulled away. As soon as I woke up in the hospital, you pushed me away. You could have called! I would have answered! Okay, I know I made some choices that didn’t make it easy, BUT YOU COULD HAVE TRIED!” Adora knew she was crying, but she didn’t care. Catra grabbed Adora’s sleeve and pulled Adora out of the parking lot and to a more secluded place. She was always thinking.

 

“Yeah, the ONLY REASON I NEVER CAME IS BECAUSE SHARON SAID YOU DIDN'T WANT TO SEE ME! THAT YOU PUSHED ME AWAY! I DIDN'T TALK TO YOU BECAUSE OF THAT! You hated me! That’s what I was told.” Catra crossed her arms again and curled in on herself. Adora considered touching Catra, but at this point, it wasn’t a good idea. Both girls had different ideas of what happened.

 

“I never said I didn’t want you there.” Adora whispered. Catra looked up at her, eyes red and full of tears.

 

“What?” She looked confused.

 

“The first thing I did when I woke up was ask for you. I figured you could tell me what happened. I thought, I don’t know, that you hated me or something.” Shit, now Adora was crying too.

 

“I- um… I guess we both misunderstood things. I-I-uh, you’re crying?” Catra carefully used her hand to wipe the tears off Adora’s face.

 

“You’re crying too.” Adora pointed out.

 

“Oh shit!” Catra wiped her tears away as fast as she could.

 

“I’m sorry I made you cry.” Adora told her. She gently reached out to wipe Catra’s tears.

 

“No, I, uh, I made you cry first.  I should be the one apologizing. Christ this is awkward!” Catra sat on the ground before Adora’s hand reached her. Adora joined her on the ground a moment later.

 

“We both screwed up, didn’t we?” Adora asked.

 

“I’d say yes, but it was Sharon who screwed up. It was always Sharon.” Catra glance at Adora and looked away. Adora swore she saw a faint blush on Catra’s tear stained face.

 

“I’m not expecting us to go straight back to best friend status, but, I was hoping we could try being friends?” Adora asked cautiously. She had no clue if Catra would be mad or something, but she would damn well try to make this better.

 

Catra started at her for a few second, then started laughing.

 

“What?” Adora was confused. This girl was cute when she laughed. Wait, what?

 

“Of course. I’m honestly not surprised you’re still trying to be so good. Maybe Brightmoon’s positivity is contagious. But yeah, I guess we can try being friends again. But don’t expect anything to magically become better! Okay?” Catra held her hand out to Adora. She grabbed it and the two pulled themselves to their feet.

 

“I won’t, but hey, do you have a car?” Adora blushed and smiled at Catra.

 

“Oh yeah. I forgot Glitter was picking up your friend from the airport, I can call Scorpia, have her pick us up.” Catra pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and pressed a few buttons on her phone. She held it up to her ear.

 

“Hey Scorpia. No, nothing's wrong. No? I don’t- ugh NO! Can you please come and pick me and Adora up? Neither of us have a car and Glitter is picking her friend up. No I’m just being nice. Alright cool, see you in a few minutes.” Catra hung up, blushing more than before. Adora had no clue what Scorpia had said, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious.

 

“So, what did she say?” Adora asked.

 

“What? Oh nothing. Nothing important! By the way, we’re probably gonna stop for lunch so you can join us if you want or Scorpia can drop you back home before we go.” Catra rushed out her words quickly.

 

“If you guys don’t mind, I’m probably gonna join you for lunch. Is that okay?” Adora was unsure of where exactly she and Catra stood, even though Catra said they would try to be friends again.

 

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Catra wasn’t looking at Adora. Instead she was staring at her phone. Catra’s phone looked different than when Adora had last seen it. Before, it had a plain red case, but now had a black case with red lettering and cat ears. Adora pulled out her own phone and checked her Instagram. She scrolled through and liked the picture Glimmer had just posted of her and Bow.

 

 **@therealglimmer:** _@bowandarrows_ is finally back from his trip to Europe!

**@imadorable liked this photo**

 

Glimmer

**(12:11) Bow and I are stopping to go out for food since I haven’t seen him in so long**

_(12:14) Go for it_

_(12:14) I’m going out to lunch with Catra and Scorpia anyway_

**(12:15) Make sure she doesn’t claw your face off**

_(12:16) GLIMMER_

**(12:17) What**

**(12:17) I’m just being careful**

**(12:18) Bow says he agrees with me**

_[Read 12:19]_

 

Bow

**(12:19) for the record, I don’t agree with her**

_[Read 12:20]_

_________________________________________

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! Catra was panicking. Sure, she forgave Adora, but when the blonde had started crying, Catra had felt like she had been the fuck up. That she ruined their friendship. And now Adora was staring at her phone, typing really fast. Catra felt her phone buzz.

 

Scorp

**(12:23) I’m here**

**(12:24) so, did you get kidnapped?**

**(12:24) I don’t see either of you**

**(12:25) ARE YOU HIDING A BODY**

**(12:25) ARE YOU MAKING OUT**

_(12:26) Damn Scorpia_

_(12:27) That went from 0 to 100 really fast_

**(12:28) DID YOU FIND A PUPPY IN NEED OF HELP?**

_(12:28) Were coming now_

**(12:29) DID YOU FIND A PUPPY**

**(12:30) CAN I KEEP IT**

_[Read 12:30]_

 

Catra grabbed Adora’s sleeve and pulled her to the parking lot. Scorpia’s beat up mini van was parked near the front and the girl in question was bopping her head to some kind of music. Catra opened the back seat for Adora and then moved into shotgun. Adora looked surprised at Scorpia’s choice in music. Most people were. No one ever suspected that Scorpia would be the type to listen to heavy metal.

 

“Hi Adora! We’re heading to Denny’s. Wanna join?” Scorpia turned her music down and turned around to face Adora. Catra tried to glance back at Adora, who was digging through the small red backpack Catra hadn’t noticed she had.

 

“Yeah I’m gonna come with you guys. I didn’t know you liked heavy metal Scorpia.” Adora pulled out a portable charger and plugged her phone into it.

 

“Yeah, Pantera is the best! But Catra says I should stop singing along to them when she’s trying to draw.” Scorpia pulled out of the parking lot and got onto the road.

 

“I didn’t know Catra still drew.” Adora leaned forward in her seat.

 

“Yeah, she has an Etsy and everything. She made my phone case.” Scorpia pointed to her phone, which had drawings of scorpions all over it. Catra felt her face heating up.

 

“I’M CHANGING THE MUSIC!” She yelled, hoping to get the topic off her art. If Adora kept asking, Scorpia would eventually tell her about Catra’s tumblr, which has She ra, which looked a fuck ton like Adora.

 

“Can you put on Taylor Swift?” Adora asked.

 

“What? Dude, no. That’s so basic!” Catra synced her phone up to the car and started playing Set It Off. The first song that played was Kill The Lights.

 

“Catra this is so emo and old.” Adora protested.

 

“Well, the new stuff is shit, but the old stuff is amazing. And I’m not emo.” They drove as the playlist went on shuffle. By the time they got to Denny’s, the song Distance Disturbs Me was finishing up.

 

The girls got out of the car sometime around 1 and they walked into the Denny’s. It was pretty empty, but a few tables had people looking at menus or eating food. The girls walked right up to the host, a bored looking, pale, black haired boy with a name tag that said Will.

 

“Hi I’m Will Solace, and I’ll be serving you today.” He grabbed menus and Catra noticed a small pin on the uniform. A gay pride flag. Maybe she should work here.

 

Will sat them at a table in front of a window. Catra grabbed one of the menus and immediately started scanning it while Scorpia made small talk with Adora. The waiter went to go help another table and Catra put her menu down. Time to start talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the chapter title is a DEH reference
> 
> Ask me any questions of my tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death
> 
> Please comment since it gives me the motivation to keep going


	7. Hello Titty Mitty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayeeeee I wrote it
> 
> So this chapter is a little shorter because my life just got crazy and I haven’t really found a great time to write regularly 
> 
> Thanks to my editor @just-your-average-queer

Yeah, Catra was doing her best not to stare as her best friend and ex best friend chattered excitedly about Brightmoon. It turned out Adora was on the basketball team, which had tryouts the week school started. Adora had told Scorpia about the cheer squad, since the white haired girl wanted to join.

 

“Tryouts are on Friday, and I’m sure the team will let you on just fine. They’ve been looking for a new varsity cheer member.” Adora explained while looking at her menu. God, this was the most awkward thing Catra had ever had to experience. Not that it was awkward for anyone else. Adora seemed to be having a great time actually.

 

“What can I get you guys to drink?” Will, the waiter, had come back over while Adora was talking and had his pen and notepad out.

 

“Do you guys make Shirley Temples?” Asked Scorpia.

 

“Yeah, we can do that for you.” Will looked bored.

 

“Cool, could I please have that?” Scorpia smiled at the waiter and he turned to Adora next.

 

“For you?”

 

“Could I please get a seltzer?” Adora’s drink choice was surprisingly boring.

 

“And you?” The waiter finally turned to Catra. She decided to try and get some caffeine out of this experience.

 

“Yeah, could I please get a coke.” Catra made eye contact with Will and he walked away from the table and towards the kitchen.

 

“So Catra, are you planning on doing any extracurriculars?” Adora seemed to want to talk to Catra.

 

“I don’t know. I was thinking I might try out for the musical. See how that goes.” She studied Adora. Adora appeared to be a little off, but trying to push through it. Maybe she was just awkward.

 

“Catra! I’m so proud that you’re considering doing something other than being emo.” Scorpia’s happy go lucky attitude was especially prevalent.

 

“God, it’s not that big of a deal.” Catra pulled her phone out and started looking on tumblr. A bunch of people had liked her most recent drawing and she had a bunch of asks she would probably have to answer when she got home. Not that it was a bad thing. It might even be commissions, which meant Catra would be making some money. Suddenly, she felt a sharp kick at her leg. Catra looked up and saw Scorpia smiling innocently. Goddamn it, she knew that Catra was being awkward and she still wanted her to participate.

 

“Scorpia, do you have an Instagram?” Adora asked.

 

“Yeah, I’ll put it in on your phone.” Adora handed over her phone and Scorpia typed her account name fast. She also appeared to have taped someone else’s- OH SHIT! Catra’s phone buzzed with a notification.

 

**@imadorable has requested to follow you**

 

Scorpia was a little shit. Still, Catra was curious what was on Adora’s Instagram. She approved Adora’s request and sent in one of her own. Adora pulled out her phone and and approved it. Catra tapped on the account and decided to view Adora’s Instagram. The first photo was a picture of Adora and Glimmer. The two of them were at Disneyland and Adora wore a pair of sparkly blue ears and Glimmer wore a pair of sparkly rose gold ears with a bow. Adora wore light overalls with a red shirt underneath while Glimmer wore a Disney themed tank top with a pair of black shorts. They smiled at the camera and had their arms around each other.

 

 **@imadorable:** _@therealglimmer_ and I had a fun day at Disneyland!

 

Catra’s phone buzzed with a notification.

 

**@imadorable liked your photo**

 

Catra clicked on the notification to see what photo Adora had liked. It was a photo of her own silhouette. She was a shadowy figure, but still looked like a person. Holy shit! Adora liked her artsy stuff. That was completely unexpected.

 

“I’ve got your drinks.” The waiter handed out the drinks to everyone and they began drinking. Scorpia immediately pulled the cherries and popped them in her mouth. Adora squeezed the lime into the drink, and Catra took a sip of her own drink. The group began actually began studying the menu and considered their options. Catra decided to get another thing of fries, Scorpia wanted chicken nuggets, and Adora wanted grilled cheese. The girls ordered their food and discussed a variety of different things.

 

By the time that Will brought the check over, Catra didn’t think there was anything else to talk out. Adora insisted on paying for their late lunch, and the girls left Denny’s to head back to Scorpia’s car. This time, Adora sat shotgun which gave her free reign over the music. She blasted cliche pop songs and Catra wanted to smash her head against the wall when Adora began singing along. It wasn’t like Adora had a bad voice, she just wasn’t particularly good. Adora gave Scorpia her address and the minivan sped along through the town. Eventually, they pulled into Adora’s driveway where a silver BMW and a gold BMW were parked. Adora hopped out of the car after thanking Scorpia for the ride. As soon as the door closed, Scorpia turned around and faced Catra.

 

“Sooooo,” she started.

 

“Not a word Scorpia.”

_________________________________________

Adora walked into her house as and heard laughter coming from the living room. She headed towards the sound and was suddenly enveloped in a hug.

 

“ADORA!” Bow smiled and released Adora from his grip. He wore a pastel blue cropped sweatshirt with a pair of jeans and his boots.

 

“How was Europe?” She asked.

 

“It was so much fun! My brother made my dads take us to Paris Disneyland, and we both had a great time there!”

 

“Bow’s gonna hangout with us for dinner since we haven’t seen him for months.” Glimmer spoke up from where she was on the couch. Her hair was slightly messed up and she had a light pink blush on her face.

 

“Cool, what are we-” Adora started.

 

“I heard about Catra coming here and I need all of the details. You go to Europe for two months and suddenly you miss everything.” Bow walked over to the couch and Adora joined him.

 

“She’s here, what else is there to talk about?”

 

“A lot. Glimmer said that you didn’t come with her to pick me up because you were talking to Catra.” He told her.

 

“And when Bow and I first met you, it was in the hospital where you were on the verge of a panic attack until the doctors told you Catra was okay. It’s pretty clear we need to talk about Catra.” Glimmer moved over as Bow sat next to her on the couch. The two sat a hell of a lot closer than necessary.

 

“I’m pretty sure I had a lot of pain meds. And she was my best friend, of course that where my mind went.” Adora protested. She didn’t understand why Catra being here was such a big deal to Bow and Glimmer.

 

“No, the doctors had taken you off of meds at that point since we met you a week after you were admitted. Adora, I think maybe you should consider how much you cared about Catra. She could really hurt you just by being here, and we don’t want to see you get hurt.” Bow spoke calmly, but Glimmer looked frustrated.

 

“I just- can we not talk about this, since Bow just got back?” Adora tried to change subjects, something she usually excelled at. Glimmer whispered something to Bow.

 

“Yeah sure. Glimmer said they just posted audition dates for Heathers. It’s next week. I’m gonna try out for JD, strengthen my acting abilities.” Bow smiled.

 

“Bow, you don’t even have to be worried about that. If anything, I’m the one who has to be stressed. Veronica is such a good part, but I’m only a junior and so many people are gonna be auditioning for her!” Glimmer fidgeted with a blanket.

 

“I don’t understand why you guys are worried. You’re both so good at this, I’m sure you’ll get it.” Her friends grinned and Adora felt her phone buzz.

 

**@Catra-the-artist liked your photo**

 

Well, maybe Catra was actually going to try to be friends. Adora hadn’t actually expected that since the other girl had a tendency to hold grudges. She clicked on Catra’s profile yet again and went to the tagged section. Scorpia frequently tagged Catra, but one photo in particular caught her eye.

 

Catra was sitting underneath a tree with a battered old book across her lap. She was sketching something. That’s what Catra did whenever she sat underneath the tree. How Scorpia had managed to capture this moment, Adora would never know.

 

 **@Scorptastic:** An artist at work

**@Catra-the-artist commented: why**

**@Entrappyboi commented: I didnt know** _@Catra-the-artist_ **had a sketchbook**

 

Adora clicked off. She shouldn’t be doing this. She should be paying attention to her friends.

 

“So I was thinking we should go see a movie tomorrow.  Captain Marvel just came out, and I heard it was really good.” Glimmer spoke.

 

“Sure, what time are you thinking?” Bow asked.

 

“I don’t know, maybe sometime like 3, and we could do lunch before?” Glimmer suggested. Adora didn’t know if she would like Captain Marvel, but since her friends had decided to go, she would try to enjoy it.

_________________________________________

Catra was sitting in her room doodling. After Scorpia had started teasing her about Adora, Catra had basically checked out and went to go work on commissions. Currently she was drawing some Paulkins for the commission. Half of her followers were obsessed with Starkid and the other half were there for anything she wanted to draw. Especially her icons. Anytime she drew new characters for her series, people asked for icons. And Catra usually obliged. Especially if it was a character she liked. Sometimes her followers asked for characters with certain flags in the background, but it wasn’t as common since Catra had released a whole set of icons with flags of the sexualities she intended her characters to have. Shit, she accidentally messed up the eyes. Erasing her mistake, Catra allowed herself to think about Adora. She knew that forgiving her was fair, but if she was being honest with herself, Catra hadn’t forgiven Adora yet. She didn’t know if she ever would. But for Adora, Catra might just try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m in a very Starkid mood, which is why the chapter name is Hello Titty Mitty
> 
> Ask me questions on my tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death
> 
> Please comment since it gives me inspiration to keep writing


	8. I Could Be Good With You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a little shorter than usual. I wasn't able to write for most of the week, and I actually just finished this chapter 5 minutes ago
> 
> Thanks to my editor @just-your-average-queer

Adora walked through the fields of her school alone. Glimmer had left a minute ago to go find Bow, but Adora wanted to keep going. She got to the bleachers when she heard footsteps. She whipped her head around to find Catra leaning against the side of the bleachers. She wore a dark red crop top, a black leather jacket, and black ripped jeans with her red cat ears. 

 

“Hey Adora.” Catra pushed herself off the bleachers and walked over to Adora. 

 

“Catra.” She murmured, focusing on Catra’s eyes. Catra walked forward and threaded her fingers through Adora’s. She pulled her behind the bleachers and blushed. Adora stepped forward and hugged Catra, burying her face in her shoulder. Then she cupped Catra’s face with her hand and pressed her lips against her. Catra turned Adora around and kissed her against the bleachers. As she cradled Catra’s head while they kissed, Adora could faintly hear music playing. No, that couldn’t be right. She and Catra were the only people there and there was no way they should be able to hear music from the school. 

 

“-college will be paradise if I’m not dead by June!” The music got louder and Adora looked back at Catra. Catra, who was playing with Adora’s hair. It was… cute. 

 

“But I know life can be beautiful,” the music kept going, and Adora jolted. 

She woke up in her bed, covers strewn everywhere. Adora could faintly hear Glimmer singing, which had woken her up. What had her dream been about? She had no clue. 

_________________________________________

Catra hadn’t gone to sleep until sometime around 3 in the morning. She woke up at 9 to the smell of pancakes. Ms. Clahe, or Claire, had a habit of cooking pancakes on Sundays, according to Scorpia anyway. Though she hadn’t had a chance to taste Claire’s pancakes, based on the few meals she had at Scorpia’s house, they were bound to be good. She rolled out of bed and unplugged her phone, marching down the stairs into the kitchen.

 

Claire was sitting at the small table in the room, talking to Scorpia. She wore a tee shirt with a rainbow on it and a pair of black sweatpants, whereas Scorpia wore her pastel red glasses and an oversized black tee shirt. 

 

“-and I’m really enjoying school, but I’m worried about-CATRA!” Scorpia’s face lit up with a smile. She jumped up and enveloped Catra in a hug, which she definitely wasn’t used to. When she lived with Sharon, affection never happened. Here, with the Clahes, though it had only been a few days, Catra could already had to adjust to the constant stream of hugs and positivity.

 

“Would you like some pancakes honey?” Claire stood up and walked into the counter area. 

 

“I can get the myself.” Catra began walking towards the pancakes, but Claire made waving motions.

 

“No no. Part of the Clahe family tradition is the cook gives the kids food. I’ll get you some coffee too, okay?” She pulled a plate out of the cabinets and put two pancakes on it. Then Claire proceeded to grab a red mug with cat ears and whiskers, and poured coffee into it.

 

“Where’s that mug from?” Catra asked.

 

“Oh, I bought it for you when I gained custody. Well, technically I had it custom made, but I still bought it. Milk?”

 

“I- thank you.” Catra retrieved her mug and moved down to the table.

 

“Of course honey. You’re family now, even if you don’t think so yet.” Claire placed the plate of pancakes in front of her and moved back to her seat. Scorpia was stuffing her mouth full of pancakes.

 

“Mmmmm, these- oh, these-I don’t even know what’s in these!”

 

“Don’t talk with your mouth open honey.” She corrected gently.

 

“Sorry Mom!” Scorpia covered her mouth with her hand and finished chewing. Catra smiled to herself and pulled her phone out, clicking on tumblr yet again. Before she could begin scrolling, Claire spoke.

 

“Honey, could you please not use your phone during Pancake Breakfast?” She smiled gently at her.

 

“Of course.” Catra placed the phone on the table and began eating. She had a lot to get used to.

_________________________________________

Angella was drilling Glimmer about Catra’s interaction with Adora, and Adora wanted to smash her head into a table. It really wasn’t that big of a deal that she was trying to repair her friendship with Catra. Or at least, she didn’t think it was.

 

“-and how sure are you that Sharon didn’t send Catra to try and regain custody of Adora?” Angella asked. 

 

“That theory seems a bit unrealistic Mom. Catra was enrolled in school, she's not a spy. I think. I’m not a hundred percent sure. More like, 60%.” Glimmer replied, gesturing wildly with her hands. She sat on the edge of the couch while Angella was sitting in an armchair. Adora was curled on the couch with her phone, a blanket wrapped around her. It was kind of annoying that the two were talking about her like she wasn’t even there. Why was everyone so concerned about what was happening with Catra? If anything, people should be concerned for Catra. She was more closed off than she had been when Adora had lived with her. Or maybe that was just a consequence of her leaving. No! It wasn’t her fault. It never had been. Or… maybe it was. Adora didn’t know anymore. And she should not be thinking about this while Angella and Glimmer were talking about Catra. 

 

“-and I want you to be careful around her, understood Adora?” Angella faced her.

 

“I- um-” She started.

 

“I know I’m being harsh, I just don’t want to see you get hurt. Please, just, take care of yourself.” Angella spoke clearly, but passionately.

 

“I’ll be careful, I promise.”

 

“Good. Now Glimmer, Adora, tell me what you two plan on doing today. I understand that Bow is back, and last night you told me about the plan to go see a movie. I have no problem with this, but unfortunately I must be headed to the airport because of an urgent meeting. You’ll be home alone until friday, but Casta may come over later.” Angella reminded the girls to be good and then walked off. Glimmer turned and faced Adora.

 

“I hope Aunt Casta comes. She’s always so much fun, and she loved you last time she was here.” She jumped off the arm and plopped down next to Adora.

 

“I thought her name was Castaspella. Is it not?” She was completely confused.

 

“Oh, no Castaspella is my nickname for her. Sometimes anyway.” Glimmer grabbed her phone and Adora felt her phone buzz

 

Best Friends Squad

**Glimmer: (11:12) Sooooo**

**Glimmer: (11:12) What time are we thinking for Captain Marvel**

**Bow: (11:15) IDK**

**Bow: (11:16) Maybe like, 3?**

**Bow: (11:16) Does that work for you to**

**Bow: (11:16) *two**

_ (11:17) Sure _

**Glimmer: (11:17) Works for me**

**Bow: (11:18) Glimmer, you driving?**

**Glimmer: (11:18) Course**

_ [Read 11:19] _

 

Adora walked upstairs and started looking around her room for an outfit. She grabbed her red sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. Then she headed downstairs and grabbed the ingredients for a grilled cheese. Glimmer eating her own grilled cheese and was dressed as well. She wore a purple shirt with a high waisted skater skirt and her denim jacket. She had added to the pins on it and put a star wars rebellion pin next to her bi flag. 

 

“I’m probably gonna pick Bow up around 2 since he always like to be an hour early.” Glimmer faced her.

 

“Did you really have to tell your mom all about Catra?” Adora asked. She was still annoyed that Glimmer had thought it necessary to report on it.

 

“I’m just worried. I really don’t want to see you get hurt by her. I know how upset you were when she didn’t see you in the hospital.”

 

“Apparently, Ms. Weber had told her I didn’t want to see her.”

 

“And you believe that? Adora, Catra’s just making excuses. I know you want to be friends again, but don’t think for a second that she wants the same thing.”

“How would you know! She was crying when I talked to her-”

 

“Fake tears!”

 

“NO! Glimmer, I know you’re worried about me, but let me make my own choices.”

 

“But-”

 

“I’m not asking that you become best friends with her, just please respect my decision to trust her, okay?”

 

“Sure.” Glimmer hopped off the stool in the kitchen and walked out of the room. Adora hoped her choice wouldn’t blow up in her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the title is a Heathers reference
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed, and please comment since it gives me the motivation to keep writing
> 
> Ask any questions you may have on my tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death


	9. Making a Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I swear to god, I love Glimmer (she’s my favorite character) but I’ve written her as overprotective here. She cares about Adora and doesn’t want to see her get hurt. Don’t worry though, Glimmer’s gonna get supportive soon and get some time to shine
> 
> Credit to my editor @just-your-average-queer

* * *

Catra had somehow gotten roped into going to the animal shelter with Scorpia. Who was she kidding, she had always liked animals more than people. And the fact that Claire was letting them adopt something was amazing. 

 

The shelter was a grey building with pastures around it. The lettering on the building proclaimed “Plumeria Family Rescue”. The girls jumped out of the beat up car and entered the building. One of the girls from Saturday, Perfume or something, was sitting at the desk. Her pale blonde hair was pulled into a braid, and she wore a pink tee shirt. She had a pair of earbuds in as she hummed quietly to herself.

 

“Perfuma?” Scorpia asked.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you come in. Welcome to Plumeria Family Rescue. How may I help you?” Perfuma pulled one of her earbuds out and came out from behind the desk. Scorpia smiled at her as Perfuma studied them.

 

“We were hoping to adopt a pet today.” Scorpia cleared her throat and spoke.

 

“Of course. What type of animal were you looking for?” Perfuma asked.

 

“Cat.”

“Dog.”

 

Catra and Scorpia spoke at once, contradicting each other. Perfuma raised an eyebrow at their antics. Although, the girls were pretty much total opposites so it made sense that they would disagree on this. Catra thought that a little kitten would be best due to the fact that no one would be home during the day to take care of a dog. She had no clue how Scorpia could possibly think that they could take care of a puppy.

 

“I can show you both. Maybe that will help with your decision on what to get?” Perfuma gestured for them to follow and the girls began walking through the shelter. 

 

The barking noises of the dogs became louder as they got closer to the dog room. Scorpia visibly perked up, whereas Catra almost hissed. She didn’t mind dogs, but they always seemed a bit to energetic to her. And their barking was, well not scary, because Catra was not afraid of dogs. She wasn’t. It was just… loud! Very… Loud.

 

Okay, maybe she was a little scared of dogs. With their loud barks and their slobber. Not to mention that some of them were massive! How could anyone in their right mind not be scared of dogs. She would much rather spend her time hanging out with the cute little balls of fur that were cats.

 

“We currently have 12 dogs available for adoption. All of varying breeds and ages.” Perfuma twisted the door open and Catra followed her inside. Dogs were literally everywhere. A few of the larger ones were jumping at the fence that separated them from the door.

 

Scorpia rushed towards the dogs, cooing as she went. Catra watched as a fluffy dog jumped on her best friend.

 

“BABY!” Scorpia exclaimed and sat on the floor with the dog.

“She’s a sweet little girl, isn’t she?” Perfuma joined Scorpia on the floor and began petting the pup.

 

“Catra come on! We’ve got to get her!” She gestured wildly at the little puppy wildly circling. 

 

“Whatever. Does the mutt have a name or something?” Catra asked. She leaned against the pen and watched. The puppy was brown and looked like a mix of a few different breeds.

 

“No actually. She’s our newest rescue. We found her in a cardboard box outside the shelter. You know, some people don’t even have the decency to bring their animals in.” Perfuma looked as enraged as a girl of her disposition could possibly be. Scorpia picked the puppy up. 

 

“Hi sweetie. I’m gonna call you Amber. Mom’s gonna absolutely love you. Oh yes she will.” The puppy, Amber, squirmed in Scorpia’s arms. 

 

“Amber, really?” Catra protested.

 

“Yeah. It was the first thing that popped into my mind. I think it suits her, don’t you?” She cuddled with Amber. Catra sighed. She really wanted a cat. 

 

“Would you like a collar?” Perfuma led them to the desk and pulled out a travel crate. Scorpia placed Amber down and coaxed her into the crate using treats. She whimpered and pawed at the wiring on the front. 

 

“What types to you have? Could we please take a look?” Scorpia smiled and followed Perfuma off, chattering as they went. Catra looked at the small, squirming thing. However much she wanted a cat, she could see the appeal. Amber was cute enough. For a dog anyways. And she made Scorpia happy, which was important. Her best friend had convinced Claire to take Catra in, so she figured she owed it to her. She stuck her fingers through the bars of the door and Amber began licking them. Okay, that was kind of cute. Not that Catra would admit that to anyone. No, people would just have to assume that she didn’t like Amber.

 

“CATRA! I PICKED OUT A COLLAR FOR AMBER! IT’S RED AND HAS A LITTLE BOW IN THE BACK!” Scorpia came bounding in, Perfuma following her from behind. 

 

“As soon as you two pay, I can give you a few things to get your started, and you’ll be on your way.” Perfuma walked behind the desk and retrieved a bag of dog food, as well as a small red bed and a dog bowl. She placed the on the desk and began typing on the computer. Then she pulled out a credit card reader and swiped the card. 

 

“All right, you’re good to go. And Scorpia, I’ll see you at tryouts tomorrow.” 

 

The girls walked out of the shelter, Scorpia carrying Amber’s crate and Catra carrying everything else. Scorpia loaded Amber into the back of the van and helped Catra place everything in the front. Then she tossed her the keys.

 

“Can you drive? I want to sit in the back with Amber.” Catra nodded and opened the driver side door, hopping into the car. She hadn’t driven Scorpia’s car yet, but it would be fine. Probably.

_________________________________________

Adora exited the theatre with her friends. She had enjoyed the movie, and would definitely be stealing Captain Marvel’s look for Halloween. Glimmer had suggested it, and Bow said he would make it for her. The group headed over to Bow’s house and headed up to his room. He was a cosplay nerd, and had a tendency to make costumes constantly. He had dragged Adora to Comic Con last year and roped her and Glimmer into cosplaying with him. Bow’s little brother had wanted to come, but his dads said he couldn’t. 

 

Bow’s room was painted a light blue and was on the 3rd floor of his house. He had a large four poster bed pushed into one the the corners in order to make more room for everything else. His desk had a computer placed on it with pencils scattered everywhere. On one of his walls was a basic sketch for Bow’s halloween costume, a cupid. Glimmer’s costume sketch was next to it. A string of polaroids hung on one of the wall. Bow liked to take a lot of pictures. He had hung posters everywhere and had painted a rainbow onto one of the walls. 

 

“Bow, I wanna hangout in your room.” Bow’s brother was complaining as Glimmer and Adora carried some snacks upstairs.

 

“You know I want to hangout with my friends alone. There’s no reason for you to be up here with us. If I promise to play X-Box with you when they leave, are you gonna leave us alone?”

 

“Sure.” The kid bounced out of the room and ran into the kitchen.

 

“Nice negotiating.” Adora commented. Bow was really good with kids.

 

“Eh, it’s not to hard. Just gotta know who you’re talking to.” The group headed upstairs and plopped down in different places. Adora claimed Bow’s swivel chair while Glimmer threw herself onto Bow’s bed. Bow just sat on one of his beanbags. 

 

“So… you might as well just say what you’re gonna say.” Adora announced with a sigh. She really didn’t like having things unsaid.

 

“Adora, are you sure that you can trust Catra. I’m not saying you can’t for sure, but-” Bow clearly had her best interests at heart, but she was getting sick of people constantly telling her not to trust Catra. For fucks sake, she had only been here for a few days and Adora had lost track of how many times people had told her not to trust her. 

 

“I understand your concern, but like I told Glimmer, I think Catra deserves a chance. We just had a misunderstanding.” She protested. 

 

“That misunderstanding ended up with you crying out for Catra in your sleep.”

 

“Adora, we just want to help.”

 

“Please just at least consider the fact that maybe she doesn’t want to be friends again.”

 

“I-I have faith in her. And if you tried to get to know her, you would too.”

_________________________________________

Catra had helped bring the little dog inside and was hiding in her room. Claire and Scorpia were playing with Amber downstairs, resulting in little yips from the dog. She was working on fine tuning one of her commissions when her phone buzzed. 

 

Glitter 

**(6:18) Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but if you plan on hurting Adora, I will break your spine**

**(6:19) She was really upset when you wouldn’t visit her in the hospital, and I will not allow you to do that to her again**

**(6:20) If you plan on actually making an effort, you can disregard these messages**

**(6:20) I’m willing to give you a chance if you’re gonna make an effort with Adora**

**(6:21) Okay?**

_ (6:23) Look Glitter, I understand you’re a bit overprotective of Adora, but I’ve got no intention of hurting her _

_ (6:23) Did she send you after me? _

**(6:26) No**

**(6:26) She doesn’t even know I’m texting you**

_ (6:27) Look Glitter _

**(6:27) Glimmer**

_ (6:28) We don’t have to be enemies _

_ (6:28) I think we would even get along pretty well _

**(6:30) And we both care about Adora**

_ (6:31) Truce? _

**(6:32) Sure**

**(6:32) Just don’t hurt Adora**

_ (6:35) I wasn’t planning on it _

**[Read 6:41]**

 

Scorp

_ (6:37) Do I look like someone who hurts other people _

_ (6:37) like, people I cared about _

_ (6:38) I just _

_ (6:38) I don’t know _

_ (6:39) it’s stupid _

**(6:40) Are you okay?**

**(6:41) Do I need to come into your room**

_ (6:41) No I just  _

_ (6:42) I’m just thinking _

**(6:43) Is this about Adora?**

_ (6:44) NO _

_ (6:44) MAYBE _

_ (6:44) … _

_ (6:45) yeah _

**(6:46) I know you care about her and you would never even dare to hurt her**

**(6:46) You’re just a bit intimidating**

_ (6:47) What _

**[Typing]**

 

“OKAY I GET THATS A BIT HARD TO EXPLAIN OVER TEXT! YOU CAN COME IN HERE NOW!” Catra yelled, hoping Scorpia could hear her through the walls. The door burst open and Scorpia ran in wearing a black tee shirt that said “Lesbionage” and a pair of grey sweatpants. Then she wrapped Catra in a hug. 

 

“Uhhhh Scorpia?”

 

“Mmmmmm?”

 

“What’re you doing?”

 

“You seemed upset, so I’m giving you a hug. I’m a hugger.” Scorpia released her and studied her friend. Hopefully she couldn’t tell that Catra was more than a little upset that someone thought that she could hurt Adora. 

 

“I-uh… thanks.” 

 

“So? Who thinks you would hurt your former best friend?”

 

“Ummmm… her new best friend, Glitter.”

 

“Glimmer.”

 

“Whatever. I just- if anything, Adora’s more likely to hurt me than I am her. She could do it without meaning to. Scorpia, I-I cared about her so much, and I thought she cared about me. And she left me. She left me all alone with Sharon. She could have spoken up and taken me with her, but Adora didn’t even try. She left me in that house after I-I-I-” Catra tried to hold back the tears that she felt coming.

 

She thought she was over it, but clearly she wasn’t. 

 

Catra didn’t think she would ever truly accept the fact that she had kissed Adora and she had still left. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the title is a Falsettos reference 
> 
> This chapter took a while to write because I want completely sure how to put the information I needed in there. I know it’s not gonna take as long as chapter 11 though (which I’ve already started writing). 
> 
> Please comment since it gives me the motivation to keep going
> 
> Ask me any questions on my tumblr


	10. Prisoner of My Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honor of season 2, this chapter is out early. I worked my ass off to make sure it would be done in time. 
> 
> Anyways: Credit to my editor @just-your-average-queer

Adora woke up feeling cold. She lived in California, it wasn’t supposed to get cold. Why would she-

 

“Adora, we’ve got to get going!” Glimmer yelled from downstairs. Downstairs. That was a funny word. It was technically two words. Or was it. Noooo it’s a compound word!! At least that’s what her first grade teacher, Miss Hanscum, said.

 

“Glimmer!” Adora slurred. Glimmer came racing up the stairs. 

 

“Adora! What are you still doing in bed! We have to go ‘cause school starts in 15 minutes.”

 

“I feel funny.” Adora giggled and Glimmer placed her hand on her forehead.

 

“You’re burning up. I’m gonna go call Mom, stay here.” Glimmer walked out, two Glimmers. Adora giggled and started muttering. She jolted awake in and Glimmer (Glimmers?)  was looking at her.

 

“Adora?”

 

“Glimmer there’s two of you.”

 

“Okay- I gotta go to school, and Aunt Casta’s gonna make sure you don’t choke on your own puke. When I get back, I’m gonna take you to the doctors, and they’re gonna give you some medication and then you’ll be all better.”

 

“Better? I’m fiiIIIIINNNNEEE! I’m SHE-RA!”

 

“Okay, sure, why don’t you try getting some sleep?”

 

“Okay Glimmer. Okay-kay! Okay’s a funny word. Isn’t it?”

 

“Sure. I’m gonna go now. Remember to sleep.” Glimmer left the room and Adora passed out. 

_________________________________________

Catra walked into the school over exhausted. She had spent last night stressed out, and nightmares plagued her. Today, she hadn’t even bothered to put effort in and forgot her headband at home. She wore a red sweatshirt and a pair of black, ripped jeans with brown lace up boots. Catra’s hair wasn’t even brushed! And today she would have to interact with Adora. Goddamn this was gonna be awkward!

 

After sitting through her home room, Catra made her way to math, mentally preparing herself for talking to Adora. She hauled ass to math and plopped down in her seat. Then she noticed the blonde wasn’t there. Was she avoiding her? Did Catra somehow make things awkward? Glitter would probably know. But she might not tell Catra. Oh god! How the hell did this-

 

“Miss Weber, please pay attention. I don’t know how you did things at Horde High, but here we pay attention.” Mr. Brunner forced her attention forward and Catra allowed herself to daydream as she stared at the board. 

 

She slogged through the day until lunch when she got a text. 

 

Ex Best Friend

**(12:09) heeeey catra**

**(12:10) youuuuur so pretty**

_ (12:14) Adora? _

**(12:14) shiehdbrksbsh**

_ (12:15) Are you okay? _

**(12:16) I’m fiiiiiiiiiiine**

**(12:17) yourrwrrrr fine**

_ (12:18) I cant deal with your pranks right now _

**(12:24) buttttt Catraaaaaaa**

_ [not read] _

 

“Is tha Adora?” Scorpia leaned over. 

 

“I calculated a 54% chance you would be freaked out by her texting you in her state.” Entrapta commented as she stole a fry from Scorpia’s tray. 

 

“What do you mean ‘in her state’? Is something wrong?” Catra demanded an explanation. There was no way Entrapta could say something like that without specifying. 

 

“Oh she’s sick. She’s got a fever and stuff.” Scorpia was doing some of her homework as she picked at her food. School lunches were never great, even at a rich school like Brighton. Catra has decided not to eat since she could just wait until getting home. 

 

“How did you know that?” 

 

“Perfuma told me. Well, she told Entrapta, who told me, but still. I heard Glimmer might skip auditions just to take Adora to the doctors. She doesn’t want to trust her aunt with her. Supposedly Casta is a sweet person, but is usually pretty out of it.” 

 

“Auditions! Those are today?” Catra freaked out. She was not ready to sing and act in front of a whole committee of judgey people. No way in hell. 

_________________________________________

Adora sat in her bed watching cartoons. She hadn’t watched cartoons as a little kid, but she found them funny. Sooooo funny. In fact, they might be the funniest-

 

“Adora? Honey, are you here?” The lilting voice of Casta wound its way up to her room. Why had Glimmer sent Casta here. Oh yeahhhhhh, cause she thought Adora would choke on her own vomit. That’s funny. Glimmer was funny. Her name was funny. 

 

“Caaaaasta!” She called. Or tried to. Her voice rasped and died halfway through Casta’s name. 

 

“Oh, honey, you just look awful.” Casta appeared in Adora’s room like magic. That’s right, Casta was magic. She said she was a-a, well Adora couldn’t remember what it was called. Today her black hair was pulled into a rushed bun and her makeup was only half done. She wore a sweatshirt that was hastily thrown on over a nice pencil skirt. She dressed weirdly. Ohhhhh weird is a funny word. Weird weird weird. And if she said it enough, the word would lose all meaning to Adora.

 

“Castaspella!” She exclaimed. 

 

“Mmmm yes, that’s me.” Casta replied as she put a cool cloth on Adora’s forehead. 

 

“Uh uh! Is cold. Nononononono!” She mumbled. It was way too cold. Was she supposed to be this cold. Suddenly Adora noticed a shadow lurking. 

_________________________________________

Catra could not focus on the rest of her classes. She had to sing in front of strangers. God that would suck. How the hell was she supposed to be ready! And Scorpia and Entrapta wouldn’t even be there to help calm her down since Entrapta was going to robotics club and Scorpia was going to cheer tryouts. Mentally running through songs she could do, Catra tried to listen to what the teacher was saying. Something about how frogs reproduce. Nothing important. Finally the bell rang and Catra scrambled to grab her bag and made her way to the auditorium. She sat towards the back, playing with the loose string on her sweatshirt. She noticed Glimmer enter with Bow, Sea Hawk, and Mermista. Glimmer wore a light blue blouse with a black skirt and a pair of black heels. Bow wore a pastel blue crop top with a pair of jeans and pink converse. Mermista wore a dark blue sweatshirt with white lettering that said “Save the Oceans” and a pair of loose, grey sweatpants. She also had on a pair of dark blue converse. Sea Hawk wore a blue vest with a red bandana and a pair of jeans. He was clearly the most dramatic of the group. 

 

Suddenly, Bow pointed at Catra, and the group made their way over. 

 

“Are these seats taken?” Asked Glimmer. What was her angle here? Unless she didn’t have one. But that was highly unlikely.

 

“Nope. It’s just me back here.” She leaned back in her seat and gestured around. 

 

“So Catra, which part are you trying out for?” Bow asked as the group sat down. He seemed nice enough, but appearances could be deceiving.

 

“I’m hoping to get Heather Chandler, since Candy Store is perfect for my voice and I look good in red. You?” 

 

“I’m trying out for J.D. and Glimmer-”

 

“I’m trying out for Veronica and I’m really nervous because there are so many people who are much better. Mermista’s going for Duke and Sea Hawk doesn’t care.” 

 

“May I have your attention please.” Mrs. Bradbury stood onstage and commanded people to pay attention. Her fiery red hair was pulled into a ponytail and she wore a pair of jeans with a blouse.

 

“As you all know, Heathers is the school show this year. I’ll be calling you based on which part you said you wanted on the form. Break a leg everybody.”

_________________________________________

“Shadow Weaver.” Adora muttered to herself as the wisps of darkness melded together to form a version of her former guardian. The woman in front of her had the same scars across her face as Sharon, and wore the same long black dress she had been wearing when Adora had seen her last. 

 

“Adora, what have I told you about calling me that wretched name your filthy subordinate came up with?” Sharon walked forward and used her spindly fingers to lift up Adora’s face. 

 

“You- you’re not supposed to be here!” Adora had to act strong, but was failing miserably. 

 

“Oh, did you really think you could be free of me? How foolish. I raised you, you insolent child, and this is how you repay me.” She grabbed Adora’s cheeks and pulled her onto her feet. 

 

“I-You were awful.” Adora was afraid now. Shadow Weaver shouldn’t be here. She couldn’t be. There was no way. 

 

“Not to you, dear girl. I was always kind to you. And you loved me, didn’t you Adora?” Sharon’s voice and body shifted to a younger version of Catra. With the scars on her arms fresh as hell. Catra had tears in her eyes. 

 

“Catra-” Adora reached out to her, to comfort, but Catra stepped back. 

 

“You said you loved me, and you promised, no matter what, we would be fine. You said we would be fine as long as we had each other. Do you remember that? Because I do.” The six year old version shifted into the one Adora knew now, the closed off sixteen year old. Her arms were crossed, and the scars seemed less fresh, but she was still crying. 

 

“Please… I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t want to leave you-” Adora tried to reach out again. Catra shrugged off any attempts of contact. 

 

“Like hell. You left me. How I am is all your fault. This is your fault Adora. It’s all your fault.” The shadows faded and Adora jolted upwards. She was overheating. God, it was so hot. Ugh. 

 

“Hottttttttt.” She mumbled. Casta looked up from where she had been sitting. 

 

“Good, that means your fever is breaking. We’ll have you good as new as soon as we get you on the medication.” She moved one of the fans closer to her and Adora could already feel the belief. Had she been hallucinating a few minutes ago? It had seemed so real. 

_________________________________________

“And last for Heather Chandler is Catra Weber.” Mrs. Bradbury called out. Catra stood up and headed onto the stage. She heard whispers of her name and people commenting on her. Fuck them. She wasn’t that interesting. 

 

“My name’s Catra, I’m a junior, I’m auditioning for the role of Heather Chandler, and I’ll be singing ‘Prisoner of My Past’ from Spies are Forever.” Catra took a deep breath and began the haunting melody. She got lost in the song and put as much emotion into as she could. The audience was dead silent as she finished off the last notes. 

 

“Amazing job Catra! And that song was such a great choice for your vocal range.” Mrs. Bradbury smiled as Catra walked off stage. God, that had been nerve wracking. She should have tried to prepare more. Catra took out her phone and scrolled while the rest of the tryouts went on. A few people were train wrecks , but most of the students did a fair enough job. She watched as Mrs. Bradbury checked over her clipboard and took a deep breath. 

 

“And now, the Veronica Sawyer auditions. First up is Glimmer Briteo.” Catra watched as Glimmer took a deep breath, smiled at Bow, and made the way on stage. The petite girl gave away no signs of anxiety, but she had to be anxious. No one could be completely calm in an audition. 

 

“My name is Glimmer Briteo, I’m a junior, I’ll be trying out for Veronica, and I’m going to sing ‘Revenge Party’ from Mean Girls.” Glimmer smirked and began the song. She was good, Catra had to admit. She sold the emotion behind the song really well. It was honestly impressive. And Bow looked a little suprised. Catra was shocked.

 

The auditions for Veronica went by quickly. After Glimmer’s audition, she had asked to leave since Adora was sick. Mrs. Bradbury had smiled and said of course she could go. 

 

Glitter

**(3:47) Do you want updates on Adora’s doctors visit?**

_ (3:52) You didn’t even tell me she was sick _

_ (3:53) I had to figure that out on my own _

**(3:55) I’m sorry about that, but I was stressed this morning**

**(3:55) you can’t really blame me for that**

_ (3:56) Fair enough _

_ (3:56) And yeah, I want updates _

**[Read3:59]**

 

Super Pal Trio

**Scorp: (4:00) Tryouts are done**

**Scorp: (4:01) Anyone need a ride home**

_ (4:04) I live with you  _

**Scorp: (4:05) I don’t have to give you a ride home**

_ (4:06) … _

_ (4:06) yeah I would like a ride home _

**Trappy: (4:07) I already possess a ride, though I did calculate a 79% likelihood you would ask if I needed one**

_ (4:12) Who’s your ride _

**Trappy: (4:15) Perfuma**

_ (4:16) Oh? _

_ (4:16) You got a thing for Flower Girl? _

**Trappy: (4:17) May I remind you that she’s giving me a ride home and will most likely be able to see all of this**

**Scorp: (4:24) Sorry Entrapta**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the title is a Spies are Forever reference
> 
> Anyways: Now I’m gonna go watch season 2
> 
> By the way, next weeks chapter is most likely going to be double the length of a normal chapter
> 
> Hope you enjoyed
> 
> Ask me any questions on my tumblr 
> 
> Comment since it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	11. Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s finally here! The flashback chapter! 
> 
> I’ve got a few warning before you read this. There’s a bit of homophobia in here. It was almost unavoidable because of how much Shadow Weaver sucks. There’s also a mention of cheating. 
> 
> I also wanna give a huge shout out to my editor because she took my shitty framework for this chapter and turned it into a beautiful angsty chapter. I hate writing angst, so she did it for me, and we got what I think is the best chapter in this.
> 
> Credit to my editor @just-your-average-queer

Sharon Weber was not what a normal person would consider a nice woman. Though she attempted to make everyone think otherwise, she slept her way to being principal of Horde High, and was nasty to her neighbors. When one of her teachers had a daughter, Sharon had tried to force the poor woman back into work as soon as possible. Still, Sharon was respected. Out of fear mostly, but she was still respected. Most likely because she was the mistress of Mayor Frederick Hordak. True, he had kids of his own with his wife, Mara, but he almost constantly was fooling around with Sharon. Everyone knew it too, but nobody had the guts to call him out. Sharon despised his children because they symbolized everything she couldn’t have with him. She tried to find comfort in being a foster mother to a little girl, but the girl she got was a little brat. The girl’s name was Catra. 

 

Around the time Catra turned three, another young girl was entrusted into Sharon’s care. This girl’s name was Adora, and Sharon liked her. Little Adora Eternia was the sweetest three year old anyone had ever met. She was perfect.

 

She had immediately befriended Catra, and the two quickly became inseparable, despite Sharon’s many protests. Adora’s blonde hair was often seen whipping around wildly as she chased after Catra. They got out of the house whenever they could because Sharon absolutely hated Catra, yet Catra had done nothing to deserve it. Although, when Adora witnessed Catra being hit at age 4, Sharon had told her Catra was being naughty. In reality? The poor girl had simply asked if she could have a playdate. Life was not fun for Catra when she lived in the Weber house hold. And Sharon intended to torture this girl until Adora would have lost interest in her. Catra would ruin Adora, her perfect little girl. She couldn’t let that happen.

_________________________________________

Catra was six the first time she felt loved.

 

She bolted through the living room laughing. Her wild brown hair was tossing wildly as she chased Adora around. Adora screeched and giggle and Catra tackled her from behind. The two rolled around on the floor until Adora’s red tee shirt got caught. 

 

“Catra?” Adora seemed confused. 

 

“Oh no.” Catra paled considerably, knowing she would be fault for ruining Adora’s shirt. It was ripped from the side all the way up to the sleeve. Ms. Weber would be furious and probably would take away Catra’s dinner. She hadn’t eaten dinner yesterday either because she got grass stains on her pants. 

 

“S’okay Catra! It’s not your fault. It’s the mean nail. He did it. And we’ll defeat him, yeah?” Adora smiled at her. Catra smiled back as Adora took her hand and the two six year olds ran through the house, desperate to find something to fix Adora’s shirt. 

_________________________________________

They never found anything to fix it. Adora ate her dinner quietly as Catra sat at the table, not eating. Ms. Weber told her that when Catra was naughty, she didn’t like to eat. Adora thought Ms. Weber told Catra not to eat. But tonight, something was off. After dinner, Ms. Weber grabbed Catra before she could come upstairs with Adora. 

 

“Adora, be a good girl and go to your room. I have something to discuss with Catra.” Ms. Weber looked at her, staring her heated gaze. Adora headed her words and went upstairs as quickly as she could without running. Ms. Weber said running wasn’t allowed inside the house. 

 

Adora shared her room with Catra, since Ms. Weber wanted a guest bedroom as well as her own bedroom. Although, Adora has never seen any guests come over, ‘cept Mayor Hordak. He came over most weeks, but he never talked to Adora or Catra. He’d just walk in and Ms. Weber would send the girls to their room. Adora always wondered what they did when he came over. Probably yucky grown up stuff. 

 

She sat on the shared bed that was pushed against the side of a wall. The blankets were grey and there was only one pillow, which Catra liked to give to Adora most night. She never wanted it for herself for some reason, though Adora usually tried to give it to her. She laid on the bed, waiting for Catra. 

 

She waited about five minutes before she heard crying. Catra crying. What was Ms. Weber doing down there? The cries continued and for a minute, Adora could make out words between the tears. 

 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, I just- it was an accident I promise.” Catra’s broken voice spoke. Adora couldn’t hear a reply, but Catra kept crying. Oh, she was definitely making sure her friend got the pillow tonight! 

 

Adora waited for twenty more minutes before Catra came into the room. She was bleeding. A lot. Adora jumped off the bed and pulled her crying best friend into her arms. Catra’s blood blended into Adora’s red shirt.

 

“What happened?” She murmured into Catra’s shoulder. 

 

“She-She dropped her knife. On my arms. I cant-it hurts.” Catra cried into Adora’s shoulder. She had to do something. She couldn’t just let her suffer like this. 

 

“I’m gonna get some bandages. Lonnie taught me how to sew a bag, so maybe I can sew you?” Adora helped Catra onto the bed and ran into the bathroom looking for the first aid kit. She found it and then went looking for Sharon’s sewing kit. Then she made sure that a needle was inside. She couldn’t fix Catra without a needle. Ms. Weber’s needles were much sharper than Lonnie’s… But she could do this… Right?

Adora bolted back into the room and gently tried to wipe the blood off Catra’s arms, but everytime she cleaned the source more would replace it. Adora tried to find the wounds to the best of her six year old abilities. Catra had three deep cuts on each of her forearms, and many superficial wounds scattered all over her face, arms, and neck. They looked gross, but Adora would do her best to help. She threaded the needle and gently placed her hand on Catra’s arm to steady it. Adora took a couple deep breaths, and tried to steady her hand. She just couldn’t stop shaking! Finally, she began attempting to stitch it up.

 

The cuts were big, and Adora’s hands would not stop shaking, but she did each arm as best she could. Catra’s cries had quieted to a pained whimper as Adora finished the last cut. She cleaned off the remaining blood and began wrapping the messily done stitches in ace bandages. 

 

“It’s not perfect, but I tried.” She announced after returning the supplies. Catra threw herself into Adora’s arms and whispered something. 

 

“What?” Asked Adora. 

 

“What if I’m not pretty anymore? Then Ms. Weber will get rid of me like she’s always saying she’s gonna.” The girl in her arms still whispered, clearly afraid. 

 

“Firstly, I’m not gonna let her get rid of you. She’ll have to fight me! And second, you’re still pretty, even with your tears.” Adora told her confidently. She then proceeded to press kisses on the ace bandages and pulled Catra into bed. 

_________________________________________

When Catra was ten, she almost ran away. 

 

It was Christmas Eve and Sharon had told her that she hated her. Catra had a feeling, but it still hurt. The woman who some people called her mother hated her. And what had Catra done to deserve it? Nothing. She did everything Sharon ever asked, and yet she hated her and made it clear. The scars on Catra’s arms were Sharon’s fault. The fact that Catra couldn’t stand to be alone with adults was Sharon’s fault. And the fact that she was starting to close herself off from everyone except Adora was Sharon’s fault. 

 

Catra shouldered her bag and pulled her wild brown hair into a ponytail. She pulled on her oversized red hoodie and pulled the hood up. Not like people would care. No one in Frighton have a damn about her except Adora. Catra left the note on their, no, Adora’s bed. Because it was Adora’s bed now. Because Catra was leaving. Could she do this? Could she actually ditch her best friend? Maybe Adora would be better off without her. At least, that’s what Catra told herself as she lowered herself out of the window and onto a tree. She climbed to the ground and began running. 

_________________________________________

Adora noticed a note on her bed. For some reason, Catra wasn’t in her room, but this note was. She opened it and began reading. 

 

Hey Adora,

So, if you’re reading this, I’m gone. I ran away. You know it was only a matter of time. If anything, be glad I stayed this long. That much is truly a shock. If I hadn’t ran away, you know Sharon would have sent me to the next house, or kicked me out. Whichever term you prefer. Anyway, I’ll miss you. I really will. You’re my best friend, I want you to know that. Maybe someday we’ll see each other again. 

Catra

 

Well screw that! Adora pulled her boots back on and ran to the window. She knew Catra had been practicing climbing out, but she never thought it would go this far. She wiggled through the window and climbed down the tree. Catra wasn’t gonna get far. 

 

The best guess she had for where Catra went was the bus station. Adora had seen her friend saving up, so she knew she had the money. Adora bolted down the sidewalk as fast as she possibly could. If she didn’t get there before the bus Catra was taking, her best friend would be gone forever. 

 

She finally made it to the bus stop and saw Catra waiting on a bench. She had her red backpack with her and her hoodie pulled up tightly. 

 

“Catra!” Adora called. She went over to her and sat on the bench. It was really cold. 

 

“Adora? I told you, I’m running away. You’ll be better off without me anyways. Sharon always says so.” Catra’s eyes were red and brimmed with tears. 

 

“Please don’t go. I care about you. Just ‘cause Sharon doesn’t, it doesn’t mean that you should throw away your friends here.” Adora cried. 

 

“Stuffs gonna keep happening as long as I’m here. You know that.” Unbeknownst to Adora, Catra was holding back tears under her hood.

 

“As long as we’re together, nothing bad can happen!” Adora exclaimed. 

 

“Adora, you know that’s not true! Face it, I’ve ruined your chance at having a good life. If I had never been born, maybe….” Catra sniffled, “maybe you could be happy. Maybe you would have real friends, a real home, a normal life! I’m the only thing stopping you… Which is why I need to go. I’m doing this for you.”

 

“No. I don’t want this. I don’t want to live a life without you. I don’t want to spend everyday wondering if you’ve eaten, if you have a roof over you head, if you’re… IF YOU’RE DEAD!! Don’t you understand?! You are the reason I get up everyday. You are my family! Not Sharon, just you. Please… Catra, please stay. I need you. I will do anything for you. I’ll always protect you, and I’ll always be here for you.”

 

“You promise?”

 

“I promise.”

 

Catra leaned over and wiped the tears Adora didn’t even realize she had shed. Adora helped Catra up from the bench. As the two walked back to the house, Catra tentatively laced her fingers through Adora’s. Adora squeezed Catra’s hand.

 

The two climbed back into the room and Adora pulled a box out from under their bed. 

 

“Since it’s Christmas and all, I figured I would get you something.” She handed the box to the awestruck girl sitting in front of her. The box was opened carefully and Catra pulled out a red headband with cat ears. 

 

“Adora-”

 

“I know it seem kinda dumb, but you’ve got ‘cat’ in your name, so I was look for a present and I saw those and I thought you should have it since you’ve got cat in your name and-” Adora didn’t breath as she rushed out her tangent. 

 

“I love them.” Catra pulled Adora into a hug, which was becoming far too rare. The girls held each other until they fell asleep. 

_________________________________________

Catra was twelve when she realized she liked girls. 

 

She was hiding from some teachers with a girl named Lonnie. Lonnie had pulled her into a bathroom as they attempted to lose the teacher. Lonnie was a pretty girl with darker skin, light brown hair, and pretty green eyes. She had a more mature look to her, and that was only solidified by her nose piercing, undercut, and tendency to wear leather jackets. Not that Catra didn’t wear leather jackets, but Lonnie looked hot in them. Lonnie looked hot in everything to be honest. And now she had pushed Catra against a wall. 

 

“Do you want this?” She rasped, gently pressing against Catra. 

 

“Hell yeah.” Catra murmured back and suddenly she felt a mouth against her own. Lonnie was kissing her. And she liked it. Catra kissed back as the two made out in the bathroom. A little gross, yes, but a pretty good first kiss. They spun around as Catra ran her hands through Lonnie’s hair. Lonnie responded by swiping her tongue on Catra’s lip and looking at her seductively. 

 

“That was fun. We should do it again some time.” She pulled a pen out from her pocket and wrought on Catra’s hand. Her phone number. 

 

Did this mean Catra had a girlfriend?

_________________________________________

Adora was thirteen when Lonnie broke up with Catra. 

 

She was in her room at the time. She was working on her math homework, but it wasn’t hard. Suddenly, Catra appeared at the window. She wore a dark red leather jacket and a black tank top with ripped jeans. She slid the window open and ran over to Adora. Catra was crying. 

 

“Catra…!” Adora pulled her friend into a hug. 

 

“She broke up with me. I didn’t think she would do that.” Catra cried into her shoulder. 

 

“What did she say? I’ll kill her!” Adora felt angry. No, more than angry!  Lonnie had no right to treat Catra like this. How the hell was this supposed to be okay. No… It wasn’t. The next time Adora saw Lonnie… Let’s just say her face didn’t look as pretty as it did before Adora gave her two black eyes and a busted lip.

 

“She-She said I didn’t seem interested in her anymore. That it seemed like I wanted- I don’t know, to break up with her. Th-that.. Tha-that maybe I didn’t really like girls, I was just fucking with her. Sh-she said that Kyle saw me talking with a guy a-and yeah I was, bu-but not like that-at!! She-I can’t believe she did this. I wouldn't cheat on her! I wouldn’t!” She sobbed. Adora felt her heart break into pieces. Catra was hurting and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. 

 

“Catra, hey. You are so much better than her. She shouldn’t have broke your heart like that and you’re better off without her. I...I’m not gonna let any girl hurt you again.” Adora ran her fingers around Catra’s scars. 

 

“You promise.” She asked. 

 

“I promise.” She replied, cradling and soothing her crying best friend. 

_________________________________________

Catra was fourteen when she kissed Adora.

 

The two of them were sitting in their room as Catra started sketching her. Adora’s beautiful face came to life on her page. Her laughter, her smile, she was there. And Adora was trying to sing. That dumbass always tried to sing when Catra was sketching as an attempt to get her to pay attention to her. Catra flipped the pages in her book to an older sketch. 

 

“Hey Adora, come look at this.” She called. The blonde tilted her head and moved closer to observe the drawing. 

 

“Catra- it’s absolutely amazing.” The drawing was She Ra, Princess of Power. A character Adora had created long ago to fight Shadow Weaver and Hordak. A character who just so happened to look like Adora. 

 

“I’m glad you like it. It took a while, and I figured, well it’s about time She Ra appeared in my book.” Catra grinned and turned to face Adora, putting her book down. Adora looked positively angelic in the sunlight, and Catra felt herself lurch forward. She grabbed Adora’s face and kissed her, barely registering the sound of her sketchbook hitting the wooden floor. She just kept kissing her, and before long, Adora was kissing back. The two pressed up against each other, rolling around on the bed, kissing through laughter. Catra couldn’t remember the last time she smiled this much, but Adora had the effect on her. 

 

“Will you sing for me?” Adora murmured in Catra’s ear. 

 

“ _ I don’t need you to sell me on reasons to want you. I don’t need you to search for the proof that I should. _ ” Catra began singing  _ Only Us _ . Adora pulled her off of the bed and started dancing with her. 

 

“ _ So it’ll be us, it’ll be us, and only us _ ,” she kept singing as they danced around the bedroom. The time passed and as Catra finished singing the last notes, Adora pressed her mouth against Catra. They were softly kissing as the door burst open. 

 

“You dirty…” Sharon tore into the room and ripped Catra off of Adora. 

 

“Let her go!” Adora protested. Catra tried to shrink away, but Sharon held on tightly. 

 

“This doesn’t concern you Adora. This ruffian brainwashed you into believing in her disgusting ways. And oh, Catra, I’ll make you pay.” She tightened grip on Catra’s wrist and began pulling her out of the room. 

 

“No.” Adora ran in front of Sharon, just as she was about to release Catra, so she could tumble down the stairs. Instead, what happened was so horrific, Catra wouldn’t have believed it happened if she hadn’t been there to see it.

 

Sharon had hit Adora. She hit her golden child, her prodigy, and cause her to fall down the stairs. Adora wasn’t awake. She wasn’t- no. She had to be okay. Catra ran down. The stairs and lifted Adora’s head carefully. Blood. Fuck fuck fuck, what the hell was she supposed to do! Sharon, the coward, was off fake crying to 911 as Catra tried to keep her best friend awake. Her hero, her idol, her love, her soulmate, her family, her everything! The only fucking thing that kept her going was lying in her arms dying. Her light and hope was fading. As her golden hair became red, and her glowing skin started looking sallow, Catra gripped onto Adora and tried to keep from losing her. Adora was the sun, and Catra was Mercury. Her entire life revolved around Adora, she worshipped Adora! But what is Mercury to do when the Sun supernovas? What can Mercury do? It is only a matter of time till Mercury dies too. Mercury can only hold onto what light is left, and hope that it doesn’t die off as well.

 

“Catra… ‘m so tired.” Adora was slurring her words. Shit! This wasn’t good. 

 

“No no no. You gotta stay awake. At least until the ambulance gets here, okay? Can you do that for me?” Catra pleaded with the injured girl. She couldn't die, she just couldn’t. Catra… Catra didn’t know how to live without Adora! How could she live without her? Adora was the only thing that made living with Sharon not feel like a death sentence.

 

“I’ve gotta tell you something Catra.” She slurred, struggling to keep her eyes open. Shit shit shit. 

 

“You can tell me when you’re better. Please Adora, you just gotta hang in there.” She protested, trying to put pressure on Adora’s wound. WHY WASNT IT WORKING. 

 

“Catra… I love you.” The blonde closed her eyes just as an EMT rushed in and picked her up. 

 

“WAIT! I'M COMING WITH YOU!” Catra yelled. A cop was taking Sharon’s statement as she ran after the EMT. 

 

“Kid, I promise you, she’s in good hands.” One of them told her as she hopped in. 

 

“What good are promises? Fucking prove she’ll be okay.” Catra replied. She held Adora’s hand as the medics worked to try and bandage the wound. How would Catra live if Adora died. She couldn’t deal with this. This was such fucking bullshit. If anyone should be bleeding out from a head injury, it should be her. Catra would give anything to save Adora. The ambulance bumped as it sped to the hospital. Once they got in through the doors, nurses separated her from Adora, saying Catra was in shock, and she needed help. They told her Adora was in ICU, and when she was out, she could see her. Catra would give up anything in the world to take Adora’s place. She would die for Adora! She-Ador-I-OhMyGodOhMyGodOhMyGod!! Catra started breathing heavily. Her vision became hazy as she tried to slow her breathing and delay her oncoming panic attack. She felt tears on her face, arms, chest, and neck. Catra sunk to the floor and let out a loud sob. She cried for Adora, she cried for herself, and most of all, she cried because she feared that she may never get to tell Adora that she loves her.

 

Catra saw Adora five exhausting hours later. Her best friend, who she had been singing to before this all went down, was in a medically induced coma. And she might not even remember who Catra was. Catra held her hand. She thought about the feeling of Adora’s smooth lips on her chapped ones, and wondered if Adora would remember what Catra tasted like when she awoke.

 

“Hey Adora. So, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see you earlier, they just let me in. I-uh, I got something for you.” Catra pulled out her old sweatshirt and placed it on the cot. 

 

“Do you remember when I… I tried to run away. And you-you came after me and you hugged me and promised me nothing bad was gonna happen as long as we’re together. Maybe… I wish we could go back to those simpler times. Or even a different universe. Maybe one where you’re She Ra? Because in those universes you wouldn’t be in a medically induced coma because of me. I’m so sorry for that. I really am. I uh- you said something to me before you passed out. You said you loved me. Did-did you mean it? Because… well… I love you too, okay? So you gotta wake up. We can handle Sharon together. Because like you promised all those years ago, nothing bad can happened as long as we’re together.” Catra let go of Adora’s hand and stood up. She placed a kiss on her forehead and left the room. 

_________________________________________

Adora woke up in a hospital bed. She had no memory of the circumstances that got her here, and the last thing she could remember was walking into her room. It was all a blank after that. She noticed the date on the tv was a week later than she remembered. And… she was wearing an old red sweatshirt. She definitely didn’t remember putting that on. A man walked into her room holding a clipboard and Adora sat up. 

 

“Where am I? Where’s Catra?” She demanded. The man looked a little taken aback to see her. 

 

“I’m glad to see you’re awake Miss Eternia.” A woman with peach colored hair and a british accent walked into the room. She wore black dress pants, a light pink blouse, and a black blazer. She looked extremely professional, which honestly was a bit overwhelming. 

 

“I-uh-Who are you?” She asked. Adora had never seen this woman before in her life. 

 

“Oh, sorry. My name is Angella Briteo. I’m adopting you.” The woman, Angella, straightened her blazer. 

 

_ “Wow..”  _ Adora thought,  _ “that was blunt. Wait, adoption?!” _

 

“What happened to me? And where is Catra?” 

 

“You were in a medically induced coma for a week due to you falling down a set of stairs and retaining head trauma. As for this ‘Catra’ I’m assuming you’re referring to the feisty brunette who’s been inseparable from your side.” The nurse cleared his throat and made his way over to check on her vitals. This was weird. 

 

“Yeah, where is she?” Adora asked.

 

“I’m afraid to say I don’t know. A woman with dark black hair and rather nasty scars on her face retrieved her.” The nurse replied. 

 

“What? No, I have to see her! I have to!” She exclaimed, desperately digging at the IV in her arm. 

 

“Miss Eternia, I’m afraid if you don’t stop that, I’ll have to sedate you.” The nurse told her. Adora kept going. She suddenly felt a sharp prick in her arm and felt woozy. Ugh. She felt like she was barely even in her body. Why did it just have to happen? She thought she saw Catra walk in as Adora slowly felt her consciousness leave her. 

 

“Catra, run…” She mumbled as she drifted off.

 

When Adora awoke once more, she saw a petite girl with light purple hair talking to a tall boy with black hair. The girl wore a light green dress with a black leather jacket and combat boots, whereas the boy wore a white crop top that had a heart emblazoned in the middle of it with a pair of jeans and light pink sneakers. They were clearly engaged in a deep conversation, but fuck it, this was her hospital room. 

 

“Hello?” She gasped out. Her throat was really dry. 

 

“Oh hi. OH HI!” The boy reacted unenthusiastically at first, then he seemed to be startled. He smiled at Adora, whereas the girl just glared. Or maybe that was her natural face. Still, it was a bit scary. 

 

“Who are you?” She asked. Honestly, Adora had just about enough of strangers coming into her room. 

 

“My name’s Glimmer Briteo. My mom adopted you. This is my best friend Bow. We heard what happened to you and… I’m so sorry. That sounds awful.” Glimmer spoke up. Her voice was a bit higher than what Adora had been expecting, but it was pretty melodic. 

 

“Anyway, we're here for you if you need anything. Anything at all.” Bow smiled once again. The two seemed friendly enough, but Adora still missed Catra. 

_________________________________________

It had been four months since Adora’s “accident” and Catra was still having nightmares. Each night, she would watch helplessly as her best friend fell down the stairs. Sometimes Adora would die in those nightmares. Sometimes she would call Catra a disgusting piece of shit. Either way. Catra didn’t sleep much anymore. She practically slogged through her classes and barely made any effort in friendships. No, Catra was not coping well at all. It was like the sun had vanished. There was no supernova that would kill Catra as well. No, the sun was just gone. Now she had to learn to live alone, cold, and in the dark.

 

Until she started hanging out with Scorpia. Scorpia refused to give up on Catra, allowing her to grieve her friendship with Adora. Though Catra couldn’t move on, she finally began to function again through the help of Scorpia. 

_________________________________________

Adora wasn’t fine. Not at all. She hated new places, and on top of that, she felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest. She didn’t know if that was normal or not. According to Glimmer, she missed Catra. And she did. Adora missed Catra so much that she would cry out for her in her sleep. She missed that smirk and those beautiful heterochromatic eyes. She missed her lilting voice as she sang and she missed the way Catra would stick her tongue out while she drew. She missed her habit of getting marker on her face, or paint on her pants. Adora missed everything about Catra, there was no other way to say it. But she knew Catra didn’t miss her. And if Catra didn’t want to see her, Adora would stop mopping and begin putting herself back together. Adora felt like the sun had set, but instead of crying over the loss of light and warmth she had to remain hopeful that it would rise again on a new day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all know exactly what the chapter title refers to
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed. I hated writing the angst, but it was necessary so I can write the fluff later on. And wow, what a shock, SHADOW WEAVER SUCKS
> 
> If you wanna yell about the angst in this chapter, talk to my editor on her tumblr and I'll kick her ass into answering
> 
> Anyways ask me any questions on my tumblr 
> 
> Please comment since it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	12. I Felt So Small

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY THIS WAS LATE!
> 
> My life kinda kicked into high gear in the last week when I normally would have been writing this. 
> 
> I got this boi up as soon as I finished
> 
> Anyways credit to my editor

**_Current Day:_ **

Adora still felt like shit when she woke up the next morning. Her fever was gone, but now she had a headache. Ughhhhhh this day was going to SUCK. She knew Angella would let her stay home if she asked, but she had missed a test yesterday and it would just be easier to ask to take it today. And if she went today Angella might let them get Chinese food for dinner. Adora rolled over and picked up her phone, pressing the call button on Angella’s contact.

 

“Hello?” The familiar British tone answered immediately. Adora had no clue what the time difference was wherever Angella was, but she didn’t feel like asking.

 

“Angella?” Adora’s throat scrapped as she spoke. That probably meant she was going to have to stay home again.

 

“Adora? Are you alright? Glimmer informed me of your sickness yesterday, but I assumed since you went to the doctors it would be cleared up. Is that not the case? Do you need another day in bed?” Angella asked a barrage of questions in her usual no nonsense way.

 

“I-It might be better if I stay home today to make sure this doesn’t spread.” Adora spoke quietly.

 

“Ah. I’ll call the school and inform them you’ll be out sick again. Do I need to tell Casta to come down and watch you or can you manage yourself today?”

 

“I think I’ll be fine by myself. I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.” She cleared her throat.

 

“Ah, yes. Goodbye.” Angella hung up and Adora threw her phone down. What would she even do to occupy herself all day?

_________________________________________

Catra had gotten a text from Glimmer telling her Adora was staying home again. Even though she needed to talk to her, she understood.

 

Still, it sucked.

 

She gripped her backpack tightly as she walked to her 3rd period. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Entrapta’s bright purple hair. She turned her head and noticed her friend had a pair of welding goggles that contrasted with her purple sweater. She had grease stains all over her grey sweatpants, but at least she was wearing shoes this time.

 

“Catra!” The eccentric girl ran over as the two sat down for their free period. The two had chosen an empty classroom for the time. Entrapta pulled out her laptop and some orb with a ton of wires sticking out. Catra focused on sketching during the period. She doodled as a distracting for everything going on right now. Adora, tryouts- it was basically her coping mechanism.

 

Catra turned to her friend and noticed Entrapta frantically typing on her laptop.

 

“Uhhhh… Entrapta? What are you doing?”

 

“Oh! Programming a robot. I was hoping to have it done yesterday, but things got in the way. It didn’t help that Emily thought my project was a toy.” Emily was Entrapta’s Great Dane. She was a massive, slobbery beast, and Entrapta loved her. Catra did not. That stupid dog was always knocking her over whenever she would see her.

 

Entrapta pulled her goggles back over her face and Catra was forced back into sketching.

_________________________________________

Adora was scrolling through tumblr. Most people were surprised she had one, but Adora was an A+ shitposter. She was almost at 2k followers! She scrolled through some of the posts, then noticed a handle that drew her attention.

 

**@DisasterLesbianDraws**

 

The tumblr user’s most recent post was a sketch of Detective Pikachu. After that though, she had an announcement post.

 

**@DisasterLesbianDraws**

Hey guys, I’m guessing you’ve probably noticed I haven’t been as active the past week. I just moved, and some things I wasn’t expecting happened. I’ll try to update the series, but we’ll see. Anyway, I’ll still post, just until I get my life back under control, it won’t be as common.

-Disaster Lesbian

 

Adora clicked on the notes column to see if anyone knew why this artist wasn’t drawing as frequently. The comments were not very informative though. Half of them were people asking if Disaster Lesbian had a girlfriend, and the other half was telling the tumblr to take her time. That was unproductive.

 

Either way, Adora wanted to follow the user. She clicked the button and put her phone down, calling Netflix up on her laptop.

 

After a couple episodes of Voltron and The Dragon Prince, Adora decided to go get something to eat. As soon as she turned the corner into the kitchen, she froze. There she was. Sharon Weber.

 

“Adora! Come here my beautiful girl!” Adora couldn’t believe her eyes.

 

“S-sharon?” Sharon scoffed.

 

“How many times must I ask you to call me Mother? Don’t I deserve that by now?”

 

“B-but…”

 

“Oh Adora... I’m so that I have to do this, but I hope you’ll understand.” Sharon started walking closer to Adora.

 

“D-d-do what?” Sharon laughed.

 

“You’ve been quite a bad girl, so you have to deal with the consequences. I think a week locked in your closet is punishment enough for leaving me.”

 

“W-what??”

 

“Now be a good girl and come here, Adora~!” Adora panicked and backed away slowly while grabbing her phone and calling Angella’s number with shaky hands. Soon enough Angella’s smooth voice was being projected into the acoustically attuned kitchen.

 

“Hello?” In between sobs Adora managed to speak.

 

“H-h-help!! S-she’s h-here! She-she is gonna h-hurt m-me!” She gasped out between panicked sobs.

 

“What?! Adora what’s happening?!” After that Adora could only make one more intelligible sentence.

 

“I need you, Mom.” Without hesitation, Angella responded.

 

“I’ll be there in an hour.” The smooth voice hung up and Adora curled in on herself. She could try to last an hour.

_________________________________________

Catra was in Spanish with Scorpia and Entrapta. The two were dutifully doing all of the required work, even though there was a sub. Catra was obsessively checking Twitter to see if Mrs. Bradbury had posted the cast list yet. She hadn’t, but that wasn’t really so much of a surprise. She heard it would go up until at least Wednesday. At least one more day of nerves. God, that’s gonna suck.

 

Scorpia wasn’t checking Twitter because she wasn’t as worried, even though getting on the cheer squad wasn’t a guarantee. Entrapta was lucky. She was a fucking genius, so robotics club was lucky to have her. She felt her phone buzz and checked her messages.

 

Adora Protection Squad

 **[** _you_ **were added by Bow Boi]**

**Glitter: (1:59) Does she have the honor of being in here**

**Bow Boi: (2:01) GLIMMER**

**Glitter: (2:04) yeah yeah**

_(2:05) What the fuck is going on_

**Flowey: (2:06) You’ve been added to the Adora Protection Squad**

_(2:07) So I ask again: Why the fuck_

**Bow Boi: (2:09) We think you belong in the protection squad**

**Glitter: (2:10) We know you care about her**

**Mermaid: (2:11) it’s a bit obvious**

**Mermaid: (2:11) and gross**

_(2:12) You’re one to talk_

**Mermaid: (2:14) Can we get back on subject**

**Glitter: (2:15) right**

**Bow Boi: (2:21) so… Glimmers driving and can no longer talk**

**Bow Boi: (2:21) I’ll have to explain**

**Bow Boi: (2:24) Adora’s sick right now and is having hallucinations of her ex-foster mom. She isn’t exactly in the best state of mind, so EVERYONE has to be nice to her. Also consider that she’s not gonna be at 100% for a while. Be nice**

_[Read 2:25]_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the title is a reference to Dear Evan Hansen
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr 
> 
> And if anyone is wondering what Emily looks like, here’s a link to her design: https://bisexual-mess-ready-for-death.tumblr.com/post/184746434891/so-i-may-or-may-not-have-needed-a-reference-for


	13. Your Mom is Staying Right Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter was so short last week. I’m trying my best to crank them out on time, but I’ll make them as long as I can
> 
> Credit to my editor

Adora heard a door open. It was probably Glimmer. The bubbly girl had promised to come home as soon as she could since Adora wasn’t feeling the best. She was still curled in on herself, and trying to calm down.

 

“Adora?” The familiar smooth voice made its way through the house. It wasn’t Glimmer.

 

“M-mom?” Adora whimpered.

 

“Oh, oh darling girl!” Angella rushed into the kitchen and bent down to where she was on the floor. The older woman was wearing a crisp pink blouse with a pair of black dress pants and black high heels. Her peach colored hair was curled and she wore a gold necklace with a small purple gem attached to it. She clearly was dressed to work, but instead she was here with Adora. It only made her cry more.

 

“I-I-I-I’m sorry I called you and you had a conference and I made you leave it so early and-” She blubbered

 

“Shush. It’s alright, I swear. You needed me darling. Part of my job as your mother is to help you in times like this. I’m going to help you upstairs, alright? And the two of us can order some Chinese food and eat it while watching some cheesy film, yes?” Adora did her best to nod as Angella picked her up and carried her up the stairs.

 

She gently placed her in her bed and smoothed back her hair, placing a motherly kiss on her forehead.

 

“I’m going to go order the takeout now. I’ll get delivery so we can just relax and not have to worry.” Angella left the room as Adora stared after her in amazement. Sharon had never cared enough to tell her it was okay to call her and distract her from work. She never would have let her eat in her room and she most certainly would never have agreed to watch a cheesy romcom with her.

 

She could faintly here Angella placing the order as she tried to stop crying. Adora hated being a burden to anyone, and that's all she felt like right now. A waste of space. A burden. And she-

 

“Alright, now that I’m changed and relaxed, we can start the movie. I can even make popcorn and get ice cream if you’d like.” Angella reentered, interrupting Adora’s train of thought. She wore a pair of old sweatpants and a large blue tee shirt. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and all traces of makeup were removed.

 

“ADORA!” She heard the frantic shout of Glimmer’s voice. Then there was a thundering of footsteps up the stairs as both Glimmer and Bow burst into her room.

 

“Glimmer…” She murmured. The petite girl made her way over and enveloped Adora in a hug.

 

“Mom texted me and I got here as soon as I could. What… what do you want me to do?”

 

“Sit with me.” She muttered into Glimmer’s shoulder, her tears staining the soft denim.

 

“Bow and I aren’t going anywhere.” She plopped herself down on the bed next to Adora and pulled the blankets tight around the three of them. Angella queued up a movie and the four of them sat together, making Adora feel safe and wanted.

_________________________________________

Catra hadn’t been able to focus. The fact that Adora was hallucinating Shadow Weaver while she was in a vulnerable state was definitely not good. Not good at all. She would definitely not be able to handle it, but then again, Adora had always been stronger than her. Should she text- no she really shouldn’t. She shouldn’t bother her sick ex-best-friend. Nope, she wasn’t going to. Definitely. Nope. Oh fuck it! She was worried.

 

Ex Best Friend

_(5:02) Hey Adora_

_(5:02) Are you okay?_

 

She put her phone down and did her best to ignore the tingly feeling in her stomach. She hadn’t started a conversation Adora one on one yet, so this was a new experience. Oh god, what if Adora started ignoring her? Again? Just after Catra started trying to trust her again.

 

She screeched and threw her phone onto her bed. Not that that was a healthy way of dealing with her anxiety, but who was going to stop her? She logged onto her laptop to check tumblr. Oh? A new follower?

 

**@dumbass-sword-lesbian started following you**

 

Catra clicked on the user and was taken to a world of shitposts and incorrect quotes. The user was clearly a fan of all sorts of cartoon, like Steven Universe and The Dragon Prince. She had no clue what was so endearing to her about this tumblr, but she clicked follow anyways. Suddenly, she heard her phone buzz.

 

Ex Best Friend

**(5:50) I’m okay**

**(5:51) just a little tired**

_(5:56) I know we’re not as close as we were before, but you can always talk to me about anything_

_(5:56) I’m not gonna judge you for it_

**(5:57) Thanks**

**(5:57) Someday I might take you up on that offer**

_(5:58) Of course_

_(5:59) We may not be best friends anymore, but I still care about you_

 

OH MY GOD WHY DID SHE HIT SEND ON THAT FUCKING TEXT! OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD! SHE COULDN'T DO THIS! Catra hurled her phone back onto the bed and stared at it from on top of her chair. She shouldn’t have sent that. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuCK! She heard a buzz once more and tentatively flipped her phone over.

 

Ex Best Friend

**(6:00) I still care about you too**

**(6:03) Catra?**

**(6:06) Sorry if I made things awkward**

**(6:07) I’m sick, so I think I should get a pass**

_[typing]_

_________________________________________

“OH GOD OH GOD WHAT DO I DO SHES TYPING?” Adora screeched as she passed her phone over to Glimmer. So much for a calm night to recover. Instead she had to go and make things awkward.

 

As Glimmer reached for the phone, Angella snatched it from Adora’s hand.

 

“Do you like this Catra?” She asked.

 

“I-I think so? Maybe?” She stuttered.

 

“I have got this.” Angella started intensely at the phone and typed extremely fast. Then she passed the phone back to Adora.

 

Catra

**(6:10) No, I promise you didn’t make things awkward**

**(6:11) I just had to go help with something**

_(6:14) Oh, okay_

_(6:15) Makes complete sense_

_(6:16) You know, I was thinking, maybe sometime we could hangout and get to know each other again?_

_(6:17) We don’t have to of course_

**[Typing]**

 

“MOM!” Adora exclaimed. Angella looked weirdly pleased with herself as she became increasingly flustered. Bow and Glimmer were just watching silently, eating popcorn. The movie long forgotten, they all watched as Adora did her best not to panic.

_________________________________________

Ex Best Friend

_(6:18) No no, I’d like that_

_(6:19) I mean, maybe I could fill in a few blank spots for you_

**(6:20) Sure**

**(6:21) Let's arrange it tomorrow because I’m tired and need rest**

_(6:22) of course_

**[read 6:23]**

_[you changed contact name to_ **Adorable** _]_

 

Well, if this all went to hell, at least Catra had tried.

_________________________________________

Adora woke up feeling half decent. After Glimmer had left to drive Bow home, she and Angella had bonded as her mom did her best to sooth her nerves about hanging out with Catra. She definitely felt like Angella really was her mom now.

 

She dragged herself over to her closet and pulled a pair of light wash jeans and an oversized blue flannel out of her closet. It was almost October, so it was getting colder, which meant Adora could start having a fall aesthetic. She pulled her hair into its usual ponytail, but instead of grabbing her red converse, she grabbed her brown, lace up boots and pulled those on. She felt okay, but she wanted to add a little bit more to her outfit as a defense. Maybe an extra layer? She pulled her black jacket with a couple of pins on it out of the closet and shrugged it on. She felt warm and secure, which was a reassurance after her breakdown yesterday. She walked down the stairs into the kitchen where Glimmer was waiting.

 

Mom and Glimmer were having a discussion over coffee which was new. Mom was usually too busy to have breakfast with them, but clearly she was worried. She would have already been back at the conference if everything was normal.

 

“Ah, Adora.” She spoke.

 

“Hey Ange-Mom.” Adora corrected herself.

 

“I was thinking I could take a few days off from work. I haven’t been spending nearly enough time with you girls and last night made me realize that.”

 

“Mom you don’t have to-”

 

“Ah Ah Ah. My mind is made up. Now, the two of you better head off to school so you aren’t late. Have a great day girls!” Mom yelled after them as Glimmer and Adora headed off to school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the title is a reference to Dear Evan Hansen 
> 
> I hate hurting the characters, so this kind of went from angst to crack over the span of a paragraph and I’m really sorry for that
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr and please comment since it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	14. PLEASE GOD I JUST WANT A BLACK COFFEE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, I know this is a little later than usual, but I had exams, and I did my best to get this up on time
> 
> Credit to my editor

__Okay, maybe Catra was a little scared to talk to Adora. But she wasn’t hiding. No, she definitely wasn’t hiding. She just was in the nurse’s office for… rest? Okay, maybe she was hiding. It was only first period and Mr. Binns wasn’t there, which meant that they would have a study, which meant she would have to talk to Adora. She was not ready for that.

 

“Honey, you’re gonna have to go back to class after this period. Medically, there’s nothing wrong.” The nurse was a sweet older woman who wore t-shirts and dress pants to work. 

 

“Please?” Catra begged. She was not ready to face Adora yet. 

 

“I can’t really- look, I’ll let you stay in here for the rest of class, but you gotta got to your second period, alright?” 

 

“Okay.” Catra nodded and headed to the dark room with three cots The nurse let people lie down in. She pulled out her headphones and her drawing pad. She began doodling some Starkid Icons. Her first order of business was a sketchy Quirrelmort AVPM one with the gay flag in the background. She hummed along to her music and began to do the lines. Suddenly, the bell rang and she was forced to head off to History. 

_________________________________________

Adora had a study during second period, which allowed her to think about why exactly Catra hadn’t been in first period. She had seen the girl slinking around the hallways, dressed in a black undershirt and a dark red leather jacket with her headband, so she knew for a fact that Catra was here. Adora did her best not to overthink anything, but it was hard not to. Maybe it was her? Maybe she pushed to hard and cause Catra to feel uncomfortable? Either way, Perfuma, who she shared a study with, assured her that was not the case. 

 

“She seems a little prickly, but I’m sure she isn’t avoiding you.” The smiley girl assured her as the two began working on their homework. 

 

“Yeah, it’s gross how much she looks at you.” Mermista supplied, looking up from her computer. 

 

“That’s not helpful!” Perfuma hissed. 

 

“What are you doing over there anyway?” Adora asked. The blue haired girl had rarely missed a chance to spend the study off school grounds getting coffee. Yet, she was here. 

 

“I’ve got to come up with a roster for the swim team. Tryouts were yesterday and I had to review all the footage and start assigning spots.” She groaned. Adora sometimes forgot that since Mermista was captain of the swim team, she was in charge of tryouts. 

 

“Yeah? How’s that going?” Perfuma asked. Mermista shrugged. 

 

“Half of the people who came were annoying freshman who could barely swim at all. The other half was a few seniors and some sophomores.”

 

“At least you have the show?” Adora suggested. 

 

“Fair enough.” Mermista went back to assigning the slots. Before Adora went back to doing her homework, she quickly texted Catra. 

 

Catra

_ (9:00) I know this is kind of awkward but uh, well I figured I would just ask and get it over with _

_ (9:01) Are you avoiding me? _

_________________________________________

Catra’s phone buzzed while she was in the middle of history. Luckily her teacher was absent and the sub basically just gave them the reading and let them go wild. She had been working on coloring in the new icon she started last period, but she figured there was no harm in checking a notification. She was wrong. Adora thought she was avoiding her. Well, she was, but it had more to do with Catra than anything else. 

 

Adorable

_ (9:02) Sorry, I wasnt in first period _

_ (9:02) no im not avoiding you _

**(9:03) Oh okay**

**(9:04) So I was just being paranoid?**

_ (9:04) no _

_ (9:05) it probably looked bad when I didn’t show up after our conversation yesterday _

**(9:06) No, I was just being paranoid**

**(9:07) See you in chem**

_ (9:07) See you in chem _

 

Catra heaved out a sign. She really should have considered how bad it would look if she didn’t show up. She was about to go back to drawing when her phone buzzed once more. 

 

Trappy

**(9:10) check Twitter**

 

Catra rolled her eyes at the cryptic message and opened up the app. There, at the top of her notifications, was the thing she had been most anxious for. She clicked on the attached document, waiting for it to pop up on her screen. 

 

**Heathers Cast List**

Veronica Sawyer: Glimmer Briteo

JD: Bow Arroe

Heather Chandler: Catra Weber

Heather McNamara: Mermista Saleneas

Heather Duke: Peeka Blue

Martha: Bea Searanan

Ram: Sebastian Ocanne

Kurt: Nico Di Angelo

**[see more?]**

 

Catra tried her best not to squeal in class. She got the exact part she wanted. She would be the leader of the Heathers and have the best solo in Candy Store. She was suddenly spammed with congrats texts for Scorpia. She smiled to herself and went back to drawing. Maybe today wouldn’t be awful. 

_________________________________________

It was fourth period. One of the only periods Adora shared with Catra. Hopefully she would actually be in this period. She was almost at her desk before a blur of blue and purple jumped on her. 

 

“I GOT IT! BOW GOT IT!” Glimmer screeched while clinging onto Adora. 

 

“What? OH MY GOD THE CAST LIST!” She yelled, congratulating her best friend. Mr. Mell looked up from where he was working at his desk. 

 

“Congrats Glimmer, but please, for my sanity and hearing, keep the volume down.” He smiled and fiddled with the ring on his finger. Of course, Mr Mell’s husband, Jeremey Mell, would lose it if he wasn’t able to have good mental health. Her Chem teacher was sensitive to loud noises due to something that happened to him in his high school years. All of the students in his class were made aware, but none of them knew what it was. Glimmer grimaced and mouthed sorry. The bell rung and everyone immediately quieted down. 

 

“Alright guys, today we’re gonna do a pretty basic experiment to test your ability to follow instructions. You and your lab partner should head to one of the stations and I’ll pass out a set of instructions. Let’s go!” The students scrambled to get to one of the good, good stations. One of the stations didn’t have a working sink, but they hadn’t had time to fix it yet. 

 

Luckily, Catra was closer to the back, so she had grabbed one of the best stations. Adora hurried to join her as she smirked. 

 

“Hey Adora.” She made eye contact and Adora temporarily lost her train of thought. Catra’s heterochromia had always been alluring to her, but today her eyes were accentuated by winged eyeliner and grey eyeshadow. She looked gorgeous. 

 

“I-uh-you-Lab!” She stumbled. 

 

“Oh, yeah.” Catra flushed and went back to playing with the edges of her sleeves. Mr. Mell came by and Adora did her best to focus on the assignment. This was going to be a long class. 

_________________________________________

Catra watched as Adora lit the Bunsen burner underneath the test tube of water. Her pretty blue eyes were very clearly showing how frustrated she was, and she had a light pink blush on her cheeks. Catra would be lying if she said she hadn’t enjoyed how Adora had stumbled over her words after seeing her. It was funny. And kind of cute. 

 

No. Nope. She’s not going down this train of thought right now. Definitely not. 

_________________________________________

Adora focused on her work for the rest of the class period and headed off to fifth period. She sat through the class and tried her best to focus. You could say she was a bit distracted. Just a bit. She did her best to work on her newest article, but it wasn’t going well. She listened to Taylor Swift as she tried to focus. The teacher let them do whatever they wanted during class, which meant slacking off was a hell of a lot easier. She worked for a whole hour, and waited for the bell to ring so she could head out to lunch. 

 

It finally rang and the she headed down to the cafeteria. Mom had packed a homemade lunch. And by homemade, it meant she took some of the leftover Chinese food and put it in a container. Mom didn’t really cook, and Glimmer had learned how to from her Dad. 

 

She headed into the cafeteria to find her friends. They were all sitting at the normal table, but unlike usual, Perfuma was the center of attention. 

 

“And she’s so cute, but I can never tell if she’s interested in anything but science.” 

 

“Why don’t you just ask?” Bow piped up from across the table. 

 

“Because I don’t know if she would know- well I just- I’m a little nervous okay?” 

 

“Ask her to Prom.” Mermista added, her tone a little less bored than usual. 

 

“I don’t know if she’d want to go with me.”

 

“Who are we talking about?” Adora asked as she plopped down. 

 

“Perfuma’s mystery crush. She won’t tell us who it is, but I think I know.” Glimmer popped one of her fries into her mouth and smirked. 

 

The table chattered over Perfuma’s crush for the rest of lunch. They all wanted to know who it was, but the girl refused to tell. When the bell rang, they all ran off towards their next class. 

_________________________________________

6th period was already getting weird. Mrs. Eppolotti was ranting about something her husband did, swearing like a sailor. Honestly, what the fuck? Catra noticed that Adora, who usually was paying attention to her rants, was passed out on her desk. Not good. And if Mrs. Eppolotti noticed? Even worse. Catra bided her time until the teacher’s inevitable visit to the bathroom. She then skunk across the classroom to where the blonde girl was sleep. Catra gently poked Adora, trying to get her awake as quick as possible. 

 

“Adora.” She hissed. 

 

“Mmmm?” The blonde muttered sleepily. 

 

“You gotta wake up. Eppolotti is gonna kill you if you’re asleep in her class.”

 

“5 mo’ minute.” She swatted a hand at Catra. 

 

“No more minutes. Do you want detention?” She wanted to scream. She makes an effort to help Adora, and she won’t even wake up?

 

“Mmm- Catra?” She mumbled, picking her head up and looking at her. 

 

“Yeah. And Mrs. Eppolotti will be back any minute, so you gotta stay awake, okay?”

 

“Mkay.” Catra slunk back to her seat just in time for the teacher to walk in. That was close. 

_________________________________________

Adora owed Catra a thank you. She had tried to wake her up and made sure that she wouldn’t get in trouble with the teacher. Most people would have just let Adora sleep. 

 

Adora waited for the bell to ring and headed over to where Catra was sitting. 

 

“Thanks for waking me up.” She played with the edges of her flannel. 

 

“No problem. I know you would do the same for me.” Catra wasn’t looking at her, but Adora swore she saw her blush. 

 

“I-uh, I gotta go to class, but I’ll see you later.” Adora smiled and walked to class as fast as she could, not willing to be late again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the title is a The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals reference
> 
> I couldn’t really think of any good references for it, so I just picked one of my favorite quotes
> 
> Anyways please comment because it gives me the motivation to keep writing
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr


	15. Jello Shots, It's Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here comes chapter 15...

Weeks passed and soon enough it was Halloween. Adora woke up and scrambled for her closet, knowing how long it would take her to get the armor on. She did her best to get it on as quick as possible, but it took too long. Bow was way too accurate when he made costumes. The bodice was form fitting and heavy, made of Kevlar. She tugged the boots on and left her hair down for once. Heading downstairs, she saw Glimmer messing with her own costume. She wore a high waisted red skirt, form fitting red armor, a pair of red, mechanical wings, red knee high boots, and a pair of small devil horns.

 

“I see your devil costume turned out okay.” Adora spoke as she grabbed her coffee. Glimmer smiled and drank some of her coffee.

 

“I see your costume turned out great too, Captain.” She mockingly saluted her.

 

“Oh yeah… Queen Satan.” They headed out the door and drove to school.

 

Everyone was wearing costumes, which was kind of distracting, but also really cool. Adora saw a girl in full body black armor and a red wig with a black cape. Batwoman. Batwoman was walking around with a girl in a blue ball gown. The girl in the ball gown looked kind of like-

 

“Scorpia!” Adora called. The girl turned around and dragged Batwoman over with her. Batwoman, aka Catra in a bright red wig, was glaring.

 

“Hi Adora! What’d you think of my costume.” Scorpia twirled around smiling.

 

“Looks like hell to put on. Not that I can really say that with mine.” She gestured for emphasis.

 

“Yeah, I can tell Captain Dumbass.” Catra smirked and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

 

“Why Batwoman?”

 

“Because she’s iconic. A powerful superhero and-” Catra was interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing. They all jumped and did their best to get to class on time.

________________________________________

Sometimes Catra hated sitting behind Adora. Today was one of those days. The blonde was wearing skin tight armor, not leaving much to the imagination. And her hair was down. Fuck, she looked so attractive. All Catra wanted to do was kiss her.

Slowly

And softly

And then take her out for dinner.

 

Okay, she was screwed. How the hell was she even supposed to focus today. Any class she shared with her, Catra wouldn’t be able to concentrate. Goddamnit!

 

She tried to pay attention as the day went by, and eventually she made it to chem, the one period where she would most likely be working with Adora a lot. She moved through the hallway, avoiding a few costumes that had a few appendages sticking out. Oh no, she had to concentrate on notes today. While Adora was near her. At least she didn’t have to deal with the giant hoop skirt that Scorpia was sporting. Entrapta was luckier. She had chosen to come in a metallic bodysuit with one of her projects following her around. She looked comfortable.

 

Catra dutifully took the notes down, trying not to look at the table beside her. Mr. Mell was going on about gas laws. Eugh, why did she have to do this?

________________________________________

Adora sat with Bow today. He had a pair of pastel pink wings strapped to his back. He wore a white crop top with golden armor on his shoulders. He wore brown leather wrist guards and had an empty quiver on his back. Over all, Bow made a pretty good Cupid. The two whispered to each other, trying to pay attention, but not be bored. They spoke of the Halloween party Glimmer was hosting tonight. Catra had been invited last week, and Adora was so fucking nervous. A house full of teenagers, her mom gone on a visit to Casta. She knew Glimmer had an ill advised plan to play spin the bottle as one of the games. And she knew how much she wanted to kiss Catra. God, she wanted to kiss Catra.

Her former best friend.

Her new friend.

Her… hopefully future girlfriend.

 

Oh god. How would she even function tonight?

________________________________________

Adorable 

_(2:31) Is the party tonight a costume party or…_

**(2:32) After questioning Glimmer, I have learned it is not**

**(2:33) In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not really a party planner**

_(2:34) Cant say I’m surprised_

_(2:35) even though we were kids, you weren’t the social type_

_(2:36) despite what Sharon wanted_

**(2:36) Oh my god**

**(2:37) Do you remember that one pageant she made me do**

_(2:37) oh yeah!_

_(2:38) didn’t she like, make you twirl batons or some shit_

**(2:39) oh my god, the batons**

**(2:39) I had almost forgotten about that one**

_[Read 2:40]_

 

Catra tore through her closet, trying to find something cute to wear. She had been to some high school parties, but never had been one so important. She looked around and found one of her old tops from when she was dating Lonnie. It was a high neck black cropped tank top. She figured it would match with almost anything. She then grabbed a pair of high waisted black skinny jeans. She pulled her hair into a high ponytail and quickly did some makeup. After finishing, she grabbed her red leather jacket and headed over to Scorpia’s room. The girl was staring at a few options she had laid out on her bed.

 

“Scorpia?” Catra questioned.

 

“Huh, oh hi Catra!” She turned around and smiled.

 

“Need some help?” She asked.

 

“Oh I’m just going over some choices. What do you think of this dress?” Scorpia held up a black bodycon dress.

 

“Oh, it looks good on you, but I think you need an accessory.” She walked over to Scorpia’s dresser and grabbed a white choker.

 

“Are you sure?” She asked, clearly unsure.

 

“You look great. Put your hot ass outfit on and let’s go.” Catra walked out and waited for Scorpia. She heard the scampering of little paws as Amber made her way over to her. The pup hadn’t grown on her much, but she didn’t mind her company. She picked her up, cradling the puppy as she hummed.

 

“...I’m in your yard, I’m a dead girl walking.” She sang under her breath as Scorpia came down the stairs and scooped Amber up.

 

“Awwww how’s my cute little baby? Are you gonna miss mommy while I’m away?” She cooed.

 

“It’s just a few hours. I’m pretty sure she can handle it.” Catra pulled her boots on and walked into Scorpia’s car. She started blasting some music as they sped through the town towards Glimmer and Adora’s house.

________________________________________

It was 6:30 and the party was in full swing. Glimmer must have ordered at least 30 pizzas, and yet, the petite hostess was nowhere to be seen. The last Adora had seen her, she had been dragging Bow off somewhere. And now Adora was sitting on the stairs, wearing a light blue romper with a gold and blue necklace. Alone.

 

She ate a slice of pepperoni pizza as she watched people waltz around the house. She knew that Mom had given Glimmer permission for the party, but she didn’t know if she knew just how many people would be here.

 

“Hey Adora.” A soft voice purred. Adora whipped her head around and saw Catra walking towards her and she thought she died. God , Catra looked so… so… so-

 

“Time to play spin the bottle.” Glimmer seemingly appeared from nowhere, dressed in a blue a-line dress and what looked suspiciously like Bow’s coat. Catra grabbed Adora’s hand, and dragged her over to the circle and made her sit.

 

“Catra, come sit with me.” Scorpia called from across the circle. The brunette shrugged and headed over to her friend.

 

Adora watched as Sea Hawk started, spinning it as fast as he could, seemingly muttering someone name. Probably someone’s name. Most likely Mermista. He did not get Mermista. His twist landed on a girl who Adora knew almost nothing about. Sea Hawk pressed a quick peck against the girl’s lips, and then it was Glimmer’s turn.

 

Glimmer spun the bottle efficiently. It landed on Bow, which Glimmer responded by grabbing the front of Bow’s shirt and jerking him onto her lips. The boy responded by wrapping his arms around Glimmer, pulling her closer. Oh.

 

So that was new.

 

It was Adora’s turn now. And she knew exactly who she wanted it to be. She hoped and prayed as she spun it, waiting for it to stop. It spun and it spun and it spun and it spun and-

 

It stopped.

 

On Catra.

 

Adora blushed and leaned across the circle. Was Catra-? Would this be okay? She leaned forward and softly pressed her lips against her ex best friend. And Catra kissed back. Oh how she kissed back.

 

Adora felt her world seemingly realign as she kissed Catra. Her arms wrapped around her and Catra made little happy noises. Someone coughed and they regretfully separated.

 

“We can talk later.” Catra murmured against her lips. Adora sat back in the circle and daydreamed about that kiss.

________________________________________

Catra woke up curled around a warm body. In somewhere that was not her room. The girl breathing next to her was-

 

“Adora?” She rasped.

 

“Mmmm?” The girl’s eyes fluttered open and Catra stared at the breathtaking blues.

 

“Adora.” She muttered more insistently. The blonde seemed to wake up more and realize exactly what was happening.

 

“Catra?” She asked.

 

“Why the hell am I- why did you let me sleep here?” She responded and answered the question with another question.

 

“You seemed tired and Scorpia went home early. I thought I would be able to get you home, but you were asleep so…” she shifted herself under the covers.

 

“I-you-it… you didn’t have to do that.”

 

“’course I did. And we can head out to breakfast, if you want.”

 

“Like a date?” Catra watched as Adora blushed.

 

“If you want.” She muttered. Catra leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Adora’s lips.

 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Adora smirked and cuddled with Catra, an old habit from their childhood.  

 

“Now, can we sleep a bit more?” Catra asked, booping Adora on the nose.

 

“Hell yeah.” Adora closed her eyes and the two drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, title is a Be More Chill reference
> 
> YES THEY FINALLY KISSED! I've been planing this chapter for a while, and I know the timeskip feels like it came out of nowhere, but I wanted them to get together at the halloween party.
> 
> And there will be a cute ass breakfast date next chapter
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr
> 
> Please comment since it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	16. They Gossip as I Sip my Coffee and Smirk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read the end notes
> 
> Credit to my editor

Adora tried to find something for Catra to wear. Though the brunette had insisted she was fine with what she had on, Adora didn’t want to force her to stay in it. She eventually grabbed the old red sweatshirt and a pair of dark leggings, just Catra’s style. She came out of her closet to find her on her bed. Catra was looking at her phone, waiting for her. 

 

“Got some clothes for you. I think we’re around the same size, so the leggings should fit.” She handed the stuff over, but Catra stared at the sweatshirt.

 

“You still have this?” She seemed surprised, like she expected it to disappear.

 

“Yeah. Don’t really know where I got it from, I’ve just had it forever.” Adora went back in her closet to find her own set of clothes. 

 

“I-uh… I know where you got it from.” She heard Catra speak as she pulled on her own clothes. 

 

“Really?” She asked, coming out of the closet once more.

 

“I gave it to you.” Catra murmured. Adora stepped forward and hugged Catra.

 

“You gave it to me in the hospital, didn’t you? While I was in the coma?” She spoke into Catra’s shoulder.

 

“Mmmm.” Her whole body vibrated, almost like she was purring. She made happy noises, clearly happy to be back in Adora’s arms. And the feeling was mutual.

 

Adora carefully cupped Catra’s face and pressed her lips against hers. The girl melted against her touch, clearly wanting it. 

 

“Adora, are you- OH!” Glimmer opened the door. Her hair was messy from sleep.

 

“Hey Shimmer.” Catra turned around and gave a small wave to the girl.

 

“Catra. I didn’t think you would still be here. And the name’s Glimmer.” 

 

“Catra and I are going out to breakfast. Can I have your keys?” Adora smiled and held her hand out, to which Glimmer replied by sighing and tossing her the keys.

 

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.” She turned around and walked out the door. Catra leaned back against Adora and laughed.

 

“Oh my god, did you see her face?” She giggled against her chest as she felt her face heat up. God, Catra was so fucking cute.

 

“Catra,” she groaned.

 

“Adora,” Catra bit her lip and grabbed Adora’s hand. She pulled her through the halls and headed out to Glimmer’s car, a shiny, silver BMW. Adora sat in the driver’s seat while the slightly shorter girl sat shotgun. Adora synced her phone up to the car and tapped her playlist entitled driving. Soon enough, the opening beats to Wildest Dreams started playing.

 

“Ugh, you’re so basic.” Catra groaned. Adora smirked at her, opened her mouth, and began singing.

 

“Say you’ll remember me standing in a nice dress starin’ at the sunset babe,” She giggled as she sang, enjoying the blush on Catra’s face. She kept singing as she drove along the highway, finally arriving at the cafe after 15 minutes.

 

The two girls held hands as the walked into the cute little cafe. It was one of the first one Adora had ever been into when she moved to Brightmoon. It was pretty and full of bright colors. 

 

They walked up to the counter and looked at the menu on the chalkboard. Adora quickly decided on a cinnamon bun with a vanilla latte and Catra ordered a chocolate chip muffin and a black coffee. The two of them head down to a two person table with their food and Adora spoke. 

 

“We should probably talk.” She ripped off a piece of the cinnamon bun and popped it in her mouth. 

 

“I-yeah. I completely understand if… well, if you don’t want to-” Catra stumbled over her words. 

 

“Catra, if I didn’t want this, you would be here. I would have driven you home and let Scorpia take care of you. And for one thing, I definitely wouldn’t have kissed you multiple times.” Adora reached underneath the table and grabbed Catra’s hand. The brunette blushed, clearly taken off guard.

 

“Are you sure?” She asked. She had never been good at being vulnerable, but Adora just wanted to help Catra with that.

 

“Absolutely. And I don’t want you to forget that.” The two ate their food and keep talking about everything. They walked out of the cafe hand in hand, and Adora drove Catra back to her own house, giving her a kiss goodbye, and then driving back home. 

________________________________________

“Catra? Where were you? You texted me late this morning and I thought the worst.” Claire was sitting at the kitchen table. Catra felt bad, she hadn’t meant to cause any trouble. 

 

“I’m so sorry Claire. I got excited and-” 

 

“Wait a minute, whose clothes are you wearing? And you have a lip gloss stain on… oh my god.” She put a hand over her mouth. 

 

“Claire…”

 

“Please tell me that if you… had, well, sex-” She interrupted. 

 

“Oh my god.” Catra muttered. 

 

“At least tell me you were safe. I know you don’t see me as your mom, but I care about you and I want to make sure you didn’t-”

 

“Claire, oh my god no! I just, well I feel asleep at Adora’s house and she was nice enough to let me sleepover. And we… well, we went out to breakfast.” Catra was blushing furiously now. God, this was so embarrassing. 

 

“Adora? I heard about her. Did you… honey, do you like Adora?” Claire pulled a chair out, clearly intending to have a long conversation with her. 

 

“I-you-wha… can we not? I just… I’m 16, I like a girl, there’s not much more to it.”

 

“Look, I want you to have a relationship, but please don’t do anything like this again. I was so worried. Please?” Catra felt bad now. All the woman really wanted was to help her, but she had been treating her like trap.

 

“I-I won’t do anything remotely similar to this again. I promise Claire.” She smiled at the woman, walking upstairs to her room. She was a little tired. Maybe she could try and get some sleep. 

________________________________________

Adora walked into her house to find Glimmer lying on the couch. Relaxing on top of Bow. The two cuddled pretty closely. The two of them reminded her of-

 

“Oh my god.” She whispered. 

 

“Adora?” Glimmer poked her head up. 

 

“Oh my god!” She walked into the kitchen, hearing Glimmer run after her. 

 

“So…” Once Adora slowed down, her small friend began speaking. 

 

“OH MY GOD!” 

 

“Yeah… so Bow and I, well-”

 

“YOU AND BOW ARE DATING!” She grabbed a cup and pour chocolate syrup right into it. 

 

“Just… keep it down. Bow is- he’s tired because he had to go home later than he was planning last night and then he had to take his little brother to karate.” Glimmer made eye contact, clearly serious. 

 

“So you slept on him?”

 

“Look, I thought you would have figured it out by now. Like the time when you walked in after he came home from his trip and we were on the couch and-”

 

“OH MY GOD YOU WERE MAKING OUT!” 

 

“Keep it down. And-wait a minute, your lip gloss is smudged. And you took longer than I thought when you took Catra out for breakfast. Did you… did you go out on a date with Catra?” Glimmer looked intrigued. 

 

“I… maybe.” Adora blushed a little bit. 

 

“So… you and Catra?”

 

“You and Bow?”

 

“Touché.”

 

“Glimmer?” Adora heard the sleepy voice of Bow come closer to the girls. 

 

“In here Bow.” Glimmer called out. Bow came into the kitchen and plopped down on the stool next to her. 

 

“So, are you guys gonna come out to the rec show?” He asked. Sometimes Adora forgot that, despite Bow’s soft appearance, he was extremely skilled in Archery. He taught younger kids basic archery skills as his job. 

 

“I don’t know, I might have another rehearsal.” Glimmer’s arm shifted under the table and so did Bow’s. 

 

“I’ll come.” Adora spoke. 

 

“What is exactly are we doing for the rest of the day?” Bow asked. 

 

“I don’t know, it depends on when Mom gets home.”

 

“Bow, when do you have to go home?”

 

“I don’t know, my dads didn’t say.” He opened up his phone and quickly typed a message. The phone buzzed almost a second after. 

 

“Oh, they’re going out, so they want me home to babysit Brent.” Bow shut his phone off and and waved as he left. 

 

“Bye Bow!” Glimmer called. 

 

“Alright, exactly how long have you two been… whatever it is you are?” Adora grabbed Glimmer and made her sit before she could run away. 

 

“Aren’t you just gonna let the subject drop?” She protested. 

 

“Nope. I want answers.” She crossed her arms and stared at her friend. Glimmer heaved a sigh. 

 

“I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you would make a huge deal out of it. And then Mom would notice and I’d have to tell her and she’s make a huge deal out of it. We’ve been together since before Bow left for his trip, if you really want to know. We were hanging out together while you were at practice and… I don’t know, it just happened.” She blushed.

 

“So, you’ve been together for like, 6 months and you didn’t tell me?” Adora felt a little hurt. She shared almost everything with Glimmer, and yet her best friend hadn’t trusted her with this.

 

“We didn’t tell anyone, and we were only a couple of weeks in when Bow left for Europe. There wasn’t really much to tell.”

 

“Still.”

 

“Yeah, I should have told you. I’m sorry.” Glimmer appologized and made eye contact with Adora for the first time during that conversation. 

 

“I forgive you. So… do you wanna get pizza and watch a movie?”

 

“Hell yeah.” The girls left the kitchen swiftly and headed into the living room, no secrets between them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiii so I’ve got a quick update
> 
> This fic is TEMPORARILY being placed on hiatus
> 
> I promise it isn’t abandoned and I’ve already set a date for its return
> 
> I just cannot keep up with this during finals week and this is becoming kind of stressful. I need to try and keep my stress to a minimum during Finals. 
> 
> I do promise that I will be back after Finals is over, but right now I need a break. 
> 
> Title is a reference to In The Heights
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr and get updates for this fic
> 
> Please comment because it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	17. It's a Lesbian from Next Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!
> 
> My mental health is getting better from the quick break, and I think my finals went okay
> 
> Don't worry, I won't take a break like that again
> 
> Sorry this chapter is so short, it took me a while to write
> 
> It might seem pretty OOC and choppy, but I haven't quite gotten back into the swing of writing yet

To be fair, Catra was surprised Scorpia had lasted this long. She had expected some form of interrogation as soon as she got back. But no, her friend had waited until Catra was sitting at the breakfast table, unprepared for any sort of questions. 

 

“Sooooooooo, how was your date?” She asked. Catra choked on her coffee and glared at her.

 

“Not a date.” She muttered.

 

“It was definetly a date.” She heard Claire whisper. Why was everyone so invested in this?

 

“Hate to disappoint, but it was pretty normal. We just got breakfast.”

 

“Did you hold hands?”

 

“Did you kiss?”

 

“Why does it matter? I went to breakfast with her, we held hands, and she kissed-” A shriek interrupted Catra.

 

“I KNEW IT!” Scorpia yelled. Claire was cheering.

 

“Um, I didn’t think it would be this big of a deal.”

 

“Of course it’s a big deal. You’ve liked Adora forever.” Claire explained.

 

“Oh my god! Are you gonna ask her to prom?” 

 

“I… don’t even know if she’d want to go with me. I’m not exactly the best choice for a dance.” 

 

“Stop being so pessimistic. She, excuse the pun, adores you! I’m pretty sure she’ll say yes.” Claire grabbed the plates and kissed her daughter on the forehead.

 

“Have a good day at work Mom!” Scorpia waved as she went out the door. And now it was back to questioning.

________________________________________

Adora was just minding her own business when she saw it. Disaster Lesbian had posted on tumblr, and it was a drawing she had only seen in a certain someone’s sketchbook. She looked at the line art of what was very clearly She Ra. No one who knew about She Ra could draw like that, except for Catra. Oh my god. Catra had been on tumblr and Adora could have reached out to her this whole time.

 

Catra

_ (10:12) Do you by any chance have a tumblr? _

**(10:21) I didnt think you knew what tumblr was**

_ (10:23) Answer the question _

**(10:23) Yeah**

**(10:23) Should I ask what brought this on**

_ (10:24) I think you know _

**(10:24) You found it**

 

Adora made a split second decision and opened up the tumblr messaging function.

@DisasterLesbian

_ Hey Catra _

**Fuck**

**Really?**

_ Yup _

**I knew your style seemed familiar**

**Shit**

**I cant believe I didnt figure it out**

_ To be fair, I didn’t figure out you were you  _

_ And I know your drawing style _

**Dont worry**

**Im not taking it personally**

_ You better not _

________________________________________

Adora had always been the smarter one of their duo. Catra guessed it was because Adora cared more. Her phone buzzed.

 

Super Pal Trio

**Trappy: (10:56) How does one respond if a pretty girl is standing outside your window holding a sign that says “Will you go to prom with me”?**

**Scorp: (10:57) Gonna need more context than that**

**Trappy: (10:58) [Picture delivered]**

_ (10:58) Text her yes _

_ (10:59) Obviously _

**Trappy: (11:01) [Screenshot delivered]**

**Trappy: (11:01) She’s smiling**

**Trappy: (11:01) Is that a good thing?**

**Scorp: (11:02) OH MY GOD THATS SO CUTE**

_ (11:02) Yeah, its a good thing _

________________________________________

A few weeks passed and the dance became all anyone was focused on. Having it before Winter Break was a new idea, but student gov said it was because of the theme. Adora hadn’t worked up the courage to ask Catra to the dance. Hell, she hadn’t even asked Catra to be her girlfriend yet. Still, she wanted to go with her. Most people had already asked their dates, since the prom was going to be at the end of the week. Currently, Adora was out with a few of her friends to pick out their outfits for the dance. Adora was torn between a cute red dress with a gold belt and a white romper that had golden accents. She held the two options as Glimmer came out from behind the dressing room curtain. She was wearing a short purple dress that hugged the top half of her body and flowed outwards as it went down. It had thin straps that arched over the shoulders and met the bodice midway through her back.

 

“So, what do you think?” Glimmer asked.

 

“You look cute, but are you sure you want thin straps? They could snap while you’re dancing!” Adora pointed out.

 

“I think that they’ll hold.” Perfuma spoke up as she went into the dressing room. She wanted to impress Entrapta and Adora thought it was cute. The girl exited the dressing room wearing a long pastel pink dress that flowed into a mint green color at the bottom.  It was sleeveless.

 

“Is everyone trying wear something they can’t dance in?” Adora protested. Honestly, she didn’t get the point of wearing dresses to dances. They were way too restrictive to actually dance in.

 

“I think she looks good.” Mermista remarked from where she was sitting. She had tried on her dark blue dress a while ago. It went down to just above her knee and was form fitting. It was open back and the neckline was golden.

 

“It’s your turn anyway.” Glimmer pushed her into the dressing room and Adora started with the red dress. It fit nicely, but she didn’t think she really wanted to wear it. Next she tried on the romper. The flowing semi-skirt made her feel a bit like a superhero wearing a cape. She smiled at herself in the mirror. She looked nice. This was definetly what she was going to wear.

________________________________________

Catra was a bit anxious. She still hadn’t asked Adora to prom yet, and it was in a week. How the hell could she even be this much of a disaster! Scorpia had pointed out that Adora would definetly go with her, but it didn’t matter. Nothing could possibly make her feel less anxious. And now she was confronted with the sight of her- wait, what even were they. No one had bothered to explain to Catra exactly what it meant when they went on a few dates, but they never called them dates. Like, are they dating, or was this just a friend thing? Maybe the kissing was platonic? SHE HAD NO FUCKING CLUE!

 

Anyway, Catra was at the mall with Scorpia. Her friend had wanted to do a little bit of shopping and Catra had been meaning to get a few new things for herself anyway. So when she walked through the halls to see a familiar blonde wearing a romper that flattered literally everything, she was definetly not prepared. All she wanted to do was run. Or kiss Adora. Or kiss Adora and then run away. God, why was this so hard!

 

“Oh my god!” She whispered. Scorpia tilted her head and tried to follow Catra’s gaze. 

 

“Look, it’s Adora! We should go say hi.” Her overenthusiastic puppy of a best friend started walking and Catra grabbed Scorpia’s arm.

 

“No no no no no. We- uhhhh, well we should probably get going. Claire’s gonna be wanting us back for dinner and-”

 

“Oh my god! You’re scared of talking to Adora!”

 

“I am not!”

 

“Are too!’

 

“Scorpia could you just-”

 

“...just drag you over to go talk to her? Of course!” She smiled innocently as Catra shushed her.

 

“Okay, okay! Yeah, I’m a little scared to talk to her right now. But can you blame me? Look how out of my league she looks right now!” She gestured wildly.

 

“There! Was admitting that so hard?” 

 

“Yes! Can we go now? I’d rather Adora didn’t know I’m overhere like a fucking disaster.” Scorpia nodded and the two left the mall.

________________________________________

“I could have sworn I saw her.” Adora insisted as she and Glimmer drove back to the house. 

 

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would she see you and not come talk to you? Catra loves, sorry likes, you.” The girl responded. Adora blushed at her insinuation.

 

“I don’t know. It was just weird, okay?”

 

“Maybe it’s your subconscious telling you that you should just man up and ask her to prom.” Glimmer smirked as they pulled into the driveway.

 

“I hate you.” 

 

“I know.” They went into the house and started a movie. Adora really hoped this would take her mind off things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the title is a Falsettos reference
> 
> Anyways I hope you enjoyed
> 
> Please comment since it gives me the motivation to keep writing
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death


	18. Dancing Through Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this?
> 
> A surprise chapter?
> 
> I felt a little guilty about taking a break, so I wrote another chapter and now it's up early!

Catra slogged through the week and eventually she got to Friday. The school day was a half day, since they were supposed to have time to get ready for prom. She moved through the halls and eventually made it to her last class, which was suspiciously empty. She dropped her bag next to her desk and could hear a couple of footsteps.

 

“Hello?” She called out. 

 

“Hey Catra.” A familiar voice sounded from behind her. Adora.

 

“What are you doing here? And where is everyone else?” 

 

“So, I know this is a little last minute, but I’ve got a question for you.” She walked forward and grabbed Catra’s hands, looking into her eyes.

 

“Mmmmm?” Her eyes drifted to Adora’s lips. Sue her, a hot girl was getting close to her.

 

“Do you wanna go to prom with me?” She asked. Catra leaned forward and softly pressed her lips against Adora’s.

 

“Does that answer your question?” 

 

“I don’t know, maybe you should do it again, just to be sure.” Catra giggled.

 

“You’re ridiculous.” She muttered as she kissed Adora again. She leaned into it, sliding her hands around Catra. They moved around the classroom, trying to find a more comfortable position to do this.

 

“Mmm- Adora- Adora… we can’t do this in a classroom.” She whispered against her neck.

 

“The bell is about to ring anyway. I’ll pick you up later.” Adora kissed her once more and left the room. Catra was really looking forward to tonight.

________________________________________

The first thing Adora did to get ready was go with Glimmer to the salon. The two had decided to get their hair and nails done before they got into their outfits. Adora had decided on a pale blue color for her nails and was having her hair curled. The long blonde waves bounced around her shoulders as the girls drove home. Glimmer’s silver nails tapped on the steering wheel as they pulled in. They moved into their rooms and Adora slipped on her romper. The white fabric hugged her body perfectly and it wasn’t itchy at all. She decided on a gold necklace that had a blue pendant attached to it. For her shoes she chose a pair of golden sandals. She looked at herself in the mirror and thought she looked pretty good. Hopefully Catra would agree. 

 

“How do I look?” She asked Glimmer.

 

“Catra is going to lose her shit!” She smiled.

 

“So is Bow.” Adora pointed out. The dress fit Glimmer like a glove, and the girl had chosen to wear it with a silver choker and a pair of silver heels. 

 

“Thanks. Oh, and here are the keys. Bow is gonna drive me. Now go get your girlfriend! I’ll see you there!” She tossed her the keys and Adora ran out the door to the car. Time to get Catra

________________________________________

“Claire, how do you do a bow tie?” Catra ran down the stairs in her suit. She fiddled with her dark red jacket and looked for her… guardian? She didn’t know what to call Claire. 

 

“No, I’m sorry, I don’t. Oh honey, you look beautiful. Adora is going to love it.” She got up from where she was seated on the couch and crushed Catra in a hug.  

 

“Mom, I’m ready to go!” Scorpia called from the top of the stairs. She wore a black one sleeved dress with red stilettos.

 

“You look good. I guarantee you’ll be making out with someone by the end of the night.”

 

“Well, I bet you’re gonna be spending the night at Adora’s again.” Scorpia smirked as Catra started stuttering.

 

“I’ve got the keys to my car since you shouldn’t be driving a minivan to such a fancy dance.” 

 

“Thanks Mom! Catra, are you sure you don’t want me to give you a ride?” Scorpia paused before heading out the door.

 

“Yeah, Adora is coming over to drive me.” 

 

“Okay.” She waved and handed out the door. God, Catra couldn’t wait.

________________________________________

Adora drove down the street and finally pulled up to the brick house. A battered looking minivan was parked in the driveway. She parked behind it and walked up to the front door, breathing in. Why was she so nervous? It’s just Catra. Nothing to be worried about. Just the girl she was hoping to date after this. God, she was making herself even more nervous. Oh this sucked! No, no, it was gonna be fine. She was gonna pick Catra up, they were gonna go to the dance, and then they would have fun. She steeled herself and rang the doorbell. An older looking woman with greying hair that was pulled into a bun opened the door. She wore a tank top that proclaimed “Cheer Mom” with a pair of pink sweatpants. 

 

“Hi, you must be Adora! I’m Claire, Catra’s mom. She’s inside, but I was wondering if you would mind taking a few pictures?” Claire smiled and welcomed her inside. 

 

“No I don’t mind.” Adora stood awkwardly by the entrance as Claire went to go get her date.

 

“Catra! Your date is here!” She called out. There was a thundering of footsteps down the stairs and a familiar figure appeared. Catra looked absolutely gorgeous in her suit. She had paired it with a pair of black heels and her hair was pulled into a ponytail, her usual headband gone.

 

“Hey Adora.” Catra walked over and softly pressed her lips against Adora’s cheek. That was a new one. 

 

“Before you two leave, let’s head into the backyard to take a few photos.” Adora followed Catra and her mom out into the yard. The woman was holding her phone and Catra grabbed Adora’s hand, pulling her under the tree.

 

“Awww you two look cute! Maybe you should pose a little closer together though?” The snap of a camera indicated each time they change pose. They took about a half an hour, with Claire hugging Catra before they walked out to Glimmer’s car hand in hand.

 

“Hey Catra,” Adora started.

 

“Yeah?” The girl next to her turned, looking at her. Adora grabbed the lapels of Catra’s jacket and kissed her. The two maneuvered against the car, Catra opening a door. She fell backwards into the seat, Catra running her fingers through Adora’s hair. 

 

“I’ve been waiting to do this since I saw you in that suit.” Adora murmured.

 

“Oh really?” Catra smirked and laughed.

 

“You know, we should probably head to the dance before we mess ourselves up even more.” Adora pulled herself off Catra’s lap and moved into the driver seat. Luckily she had brought makeup wipes and a brush. Adora wiped the red lipstick off her cheek

 

And her neck

 

And her collar bone

 

Then she ran a brush through her hair, trying to make it a little bit more presentable. Hopefully no one would make any comments on their outfits.

 

“You ready?” She asked.

 

“Let’s do this!” Catra responded. They pulled out of the driveway and drove off to the school, ready for prom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the title is a reference to Wicked
> 
> 2 chapters left...
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death
> 
> Please comment because it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	19. Princess Prom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh second to last chapter
> 
> A little bit of Prom shenanigans and a redemption for a character

Catra was a little nervous. Going to prom had never really been anything she had thought she could do. Especially before she came to Brightmoon. 

 

Adora was holding her hand as the two walked through the doors and paid. Or, Adora paid. Catra had tried to, but the blonde had insisted on it since she had asked her. Finally they made their way to the main hall. Adora pulled Catra onto the dance floor as they bopped up and down to the music. 

 

“Having fun?” The muffled voice of Scorpia sounded from behind Catra. 

 

“Hey Scorpia!” Catra responded. She turned to talk to her friend when another girl disappeared. Entrapta wore a pair of dark purple pants with a light purple shirt and a pair of suspenders. Her hair was pulled into a bun instead of her standard braids and she wore a pair of dress boots. 

 

“Catra! I see you’ve come to the social experiment as well. I’m finding it quite enjoyable. Perfuma is making it very fun!” Catra then noticed the girl holding Entrapta’s hand. The girl wore a long pink that faded into a pastel green at the bottom. She had a flower crown placed on her bleach blonde hair and she was clearly blushing. 

 

“Nice to see you Perfuma!” Scorpia crushed her in a hug. 

 

“Yeah, it’s good to see you and Entrapta are getting along.” Adora remarked. Oh, oh no. Did she think that Entrapta and Perfuma were just friends?

 

“Uh Adora?” Catra murmured in her date’s ear. 

 

“Mmm?”

 

“They… you do know that Entrapta and Perfuma are here together? Like, as each other’s dates?” She whispered. 

 

“I… yeah I did. I’m not completely oblivious.” She softly pressed her lips against Catra’s. 

 

“You guys are sweet, but like, can you not do that in the middle of the dance. The chaperones might freak out that teenagers can kiss.” Mermista remarked. The blue haired girl was wearing a darker dress that complimented her skin tone. Her date, Sea Hawk, was wearing a dark blue vest with a pair of dark blue pants and a red bow tie. 

 

“Mermista, it’s not that big a deal. I’m sure your mom knows teens can kiss.” Sea Hawk pointed at the woman dressed in a pantsuit, monitoring their dance. 

 

“But she’s gonna come over her if you keep doing it and I don’t think you guys really want to meet my mom.”

“Fair enough.” Catra responded. Hopefully they would get through the dance without any interruptions or problems. 

________________________________________

Adora bopped to the music as she waited for Catra to come back from the refreshments table. She was twirling with Glimmer and Bow, who’s outfits complemented each other. They were pretty cute together, and Adora honestly couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed they were together. Now that she knew, it was so obvious. The weird disappearances where they would go off together and come back slightly less put together. The one time she walked in to noises that stopped as soon as she announced herself. Their weird hand placements when they sat together. Really, she was ashamed she hadn’t put it together before. 

 

Catra came back and she didn’t come back alone. A familiar looking girl with green eyes stood behind her wearing a light green dress

 

“Lonnie.” Adora spoke. She definitely was not happy to see her. 

 

“Oh right, you weren’t there when Lonnie apologized. She felt bad for accusing me of cheating and had me over at her house a ton to hide me from Sharon.”

 

“I really am sorry. And it’s nice to see you Adora. You too Mermista. I came here for some fun. I didn’t really want to spend the night 3rd wheeling Kyle and Rogelio, So here I am.” Lonnie’s southern twang was extremely prominent. 

 

“LONNIE!” A blur ran through the crowd and hugged the girl. Scorpia, the human octopus, had attached herself to someone else. Lonnie, despite her generally prickly nature, didn’t squirm when the bigger girl hugged her. In fact, she leaned into the touch. That was weird. 

 

“What I’m interested in is how you even got in here.” Catra pointed out. 

 

“It wasn’t that hard. Just a window left open in the perfect spot and some core strength.” 

 

“Someone left a window open- you know what, I’m not even surprised.” Glimmer face palmed as slow music started. 

 

“And now it's time to slow it down with the first slow song of the night. Everybody grab a partner-” The DJ was speaking into a mike only for Mrs. Eppolotti to snatch it out of his hand. 

 

“And remember to leave room for Jesus. You all don’t want to end up shackled to a good-for-nothing man just because he got you pregna- no I’m not finished.” 

 

“Okay, Janet, I think that’s enough.” Dr. Salineas escorted Mrs. Eppolotti out and Adora grabbed Catra’s hand. Time to dance. 

________________________________________

Catra wrapped her hands around Adora’s waist as they twirled through the crowd. The long part of Adora’s romper flowed out behind her as Catra spun her out and then dipped her. Once she pulled her back in, Catra allowed Adora to lead. 

 

The blonde was pretty good at dancing, probably because of her sports. Her hands weren’t as calloused as they once were, but Catra could still feel the rough skin against her neck. She honestly just wanted to go home with Adora and kiss every single callous. And maybe some other spots. 

 

God, Catra hated it in this place. It was sweaty and crowded and she didn’t do well with this many people. Maybe she should just come up with some excuse so she could leave. 

 

Adora seemed to sense her discomfort. 

 

“Do you wanna get out of here?” She whispered into Catra’s ear. 

 

“If you’re suggesting we ditch prom and go get something to eat… I agree.” She responded with a smirk. 

 

“Come on.” Adora grabbed her hand, pulling her through the crowd towards the doors. The cool night air was a refreshing surprise and a great way to wake her up. 

 

“I’m driving.” Catra snatched the keys out of Adora’s pocket, getting into the driver’s seat. 

 

“I’m guessing you want to pick where we go?” 

 

“Yeah, but I also want to do something else.” She leaned across the center console and grabbed the front of Adora’s romper, pulling her forward and pressing her lips against hers. Adora responded by wrapping her hands around Catra, pressing back and making cute little noises. When Catra pulled away, the blonde whimpered a bit, her head tilting forward as if to chase after her lips. 

 

“If we keep going, we’ll never get food.”

 

“Good motivation.” Catra booped Adora on the nose. 

 

Catra started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot. This was going to be fun. 

________________________________________

“Seriously? Where the hell are we going?” Adora scrolled through her phone, looking for a song that might annoy Catra into telling her. 

 

“Almost there. Can’t you wait a little longer? You might enjoy being surprised.” The brunette teased. God, Adora just wanted to kiss that stupid smirk off Catra’s dumb face. A cute dumb face. 

 

“I don’t think I can. Please just tell me where we’re going?” She tried to use puppy eyes, but they didn’t work. 

 

“Can’t you wait five minutes? Come on, I wanna see the look on your face.” Catra made a turn and they drove down a busy street. Eventually the two stopped at-

 

“Seriously?” Adora giggled. 

 

“You have to admit it was a good idea.”

 

“Going to Dominos just because we used to sneak out and go there?”

 

“It’s cute.” 

 

“It’s kind of sappy and I didn’t know you had that type of sap in you.”

 

“Well I can't be all sarcasm and cynicism. That wouldn’t be any fun.”

 

“You’re adorable.” Adora leaned across the seat and kissed Catra, then opened the door. Her phone buzzed, probably Glimmer. She opened it while Catra steered her into the restaurant. 

 

Glimmer

**(10:00) Adora where the hell did you go**

_ (10:01) Would you believe me if I said I left for pizza _

**(10:01) Yeah**

**(10:02) Tell Catra I say hi and enjoy your pizza date**

**(10:03) Oh and try to be back before curfew**

**(10:03) you know how Mom gets if you’re late**

_ [Read 10:03] _

 

“Was that Glitter?” Catra prompted as they headed to a booth. 

 

“Yeah. She was reminding me about curfew. Guess she doesn’t want Mom to be panicked. Not that I can blame her. When we aren’t home on time, Mom’s practically a one woman army. She could probably take down anyone.” Adora spoke. 

 

“Angella sounds cool.”

 

“She is.”

 

“Is she uh… how is she with- um…” Catra stumbled over her words a bit. 

 

“Is she supportive? Oh yeah. When I told her that I liked girls, she immediately asked if I wanted a flag or a pin. Apparently she wore rainbows for a month when Glimmer told her she was bi.” Adora laughed and Catra snorted. It felt good for them to just be together and be themselves. It felt like all was right in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof one more to go
> 
> I hope this didn’t seem rushed or anything
> 
> Y’all know what the title is referencing
> 
> Anyways I’m excited to see how everyone likes the ending. There will be information about how I’m continuing the series and other projects that’ll be coming out once the next (and final) chapter is up. 
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death
> 
> Please comment because it gives me the motivation to keep writing


	20. Happy Ending Starts Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end...
> 
> The final chapter...
> 
> Okay I’m kidding, it’s not the end. I’m gonna continue this universe with a series of one shots and shorts
> 
> Don’t worry, I’m far from done in this universe

**3 Weeks Later:**

It wasn’t really Adora’s fault she was late. Honestly, what was the school thinking? Having a basketball game on the coldest day of the year? Ridiculous! It didn’t even matter that it was inside, the gym would still be freezing. And Adora’s varsity jacket was MIA. She pulled on the light blue uniform and grabbed her phone, deciding to check it in the car. She didn’t have time to check it now, because then she would get distracted. And then it really wouldn’t be her fault she was late. Yeah, that would make it her girlfriend’s fault. Her girlfriend who happened to be so cute and funny that if Adora checked her phone she knew she would want to call Catra and spend at least 20 minutes talking to her. But she couldn’t. Right now, she had to get to the game. Her team was depending on her and she couldn’t let them down. 

 

“Adora! You’re going to be late!” The voice of her mom drifted through the house as she ran down the stairs into the kitchen. Mom was standing near the door, keys in hand. 

 

“I’m coming!” Adora ran outside into the car and plopped herself down in shotgun. Mom came out and got into the drivers seat shortly after. She was a fast driver, which just meant that Adora might get there on time after all. 

 

She ran through the empty school into the locker room to dump her stuff. Hopefully she wasn’t too late. The team was waiting just outside the door and Adora joined them. 

 

“Almost didn’t make it. Not a good characteristic for someone who wants to be the next captain.” The captain of the team pointed out. 

 

“Sorry, I overslept.” She felt a little bad about it. She probably had caused unnecessary stress for everyone on the team. 

 

“Okay, starters, get on the court and start warming up. We got this.”

 

Four quarters later, the Brightmoon Varsity Basketball team had another win under its belt. Adora went out into the crowd looking for her friends. She found them towards the front of the stands. Glimmer and Bow sat close together holding hands. Entrapta was pretty happy on top of Perfuma’s lap, and Scorpia was sitting next to them. Mermista was leaning her head against Sea Hawk’s shoulder and she was blushing. And finally, Catra was sitting in the very front, wearing a familiar jacket. 

 

“So that’s where my varsity jacket went.” Adora murmured into her girlfriend's ear. 

 

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. It looked so warm.” She practically purred. 

 

“Keep it, it looks better in you anyway.” 

 

“Oh really?”

 

“Okay that sounded really cliche but I was trying to be genuine.” Adora stumbled over her words. 

 

“No, it’s cute. I like when you get flustered.” Catra booped Adora’s nose, then grabbed her hand. 

 

“Are we going somewhere?” She teased. 

 

“You know exactly where we’re going you little shit.” Adora giggled at Catra’s distress and gently pressed her lips against her cheek. 

 

“Let’s go.”

________________________________________

Catra drove steadily, which was a surprise. She was really nervous to meet Angella officially. What if she thought Catra wasn’t good enough and told Adora never to see her again. Oh god that-

 

“Hey,” Adora placed her hand on Catra’s thigh, clearly trying to calm her. 

 

“Adora?”

 

“Catra, it’ll be fine. She’s going to love you.”

 

“But what if she hates me? I’m not exactly ‘warm and fuzzy’.” Her girlfriend let out a snort. 

 

“Are you kidding? You may not be ‘warm and fuzzy’ but you care about me. And that’s all Mom will care about.” They pulled up to the house. Once Catra had parked, Adora grabbed the front of her jacket and kissed her. 

 

“What was that for?”

 

“Luck.” Adora got out of the car and walked towards the house. She pulled her key out and unlocked the door, pulling Catra in by her hand. A tall woman with peached colored hair sat in the kitchen drinking something out of a green mug. The woman wore a pink tee shirt and a pair of blue jeans. 

 

“You must be Mrs. Briteo. I’m Catra.” She held out her hand and watch Angella carefully. 

 

“It’s a pleasure to officially meet you Catra. I’ve heard a lot about you from both of my daughters. And don’t worry about being so formal. I assure you that, despite my fancy accent, I’m a casual person.” She shook her hand and pulled up a chair for her. 

  
  


“I- uh… thank you for inviting me into your home.” She fumbled over her words. How the hell was she going to impress Adora’s mom?

 

“Of course. I wanted to talk to you anyway. Speaking of which, Adora, could you please give me a moment with your girlfriend?” Adora gave Catra a thumbs up and left the room. And now she was alone with Angella. 

 

“So… what did you want to talk about?”

 

“I just wanted to make sure that you were a nice girl. I don’t want Adora to get in with the wrong crowd, though I’m quite confident she could handle herself.”

 

“She absolutely could. Adora is one of the toughest people I know.” 

 

“I have no doubt about that. Just, please be good with her. Adora’s- well, I just don’t want her to get hurt.” Angella seemed sincerely worried. It was nice that Adora had a mother figure who cared. Catra now knew how lucky Adora was. 

 

“I would never hurt her, I promise you that.” Angella smiled at her. 

 

“Right. Now, I’m assuming you two had plans to go somewhere? You can go retrieve Adora and head out. Thank you for humoring me and chatting a little bit.” She sipped the tea as Catra waved and ran up the stairs to Adora’s room. 

 

Adora was typing on her computer. Her blonde hair was down and Catra snuck over to her. 

 

“Hey Adora.” She murmured in her ear.

 

“Catra!” Adora jumped and twisted to grab onto her waist. 

 

“Did I scare you?” She muttered. 

 

“No.” Adora’s cheeks filled with a familiar blush. 

 

“I think I- mmmF!” Catra got surprised by Adora pressing her lips against hers.

 

There was nowhere else she’d rather be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is a reference to Twisted
> 
> I just wanted to say thank you so much for reading. This fic has been my baby and I loved writing it so much. I’ll be writing some oneshots soon, so don’t worry, this universe isn’t done. By September, I’ll be putting up a new fic in a universe, so if you enjoyed my writing, stay tuned for that. 
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @bisexual-mess-ready-for-death


End file.
